Beacon's Peak Academy
by sodnam
Summary: Fifteen students find themselves trapped in a strange school, where they're told they need to kill each other in order to escape. The catch is: nothing short of the perfect murder will suffice for one of them to graduate. Who will cave in and attempt the misdeed, who will fall victim to this twisted game, and who will survive against all the odds? (Rated M for Murder)
1. Prologue

**Did you miss me?**

 **It's been over two months since my last update, and I'm still struggling to finish _To Marble We Return_ , so I decided it was time to create something new. Stretch the creative muscles, and prove to myself I can still write.**

 **For that purpose, I dug up an old idea I had: "What if the characters of RWBY were stuck in a mutual killing game - Danganronpa style?"**

 **Some considerations before we start:**

 **1\. You don't need to have played the DR games to read this.**

 **2\. This is not a crossover. All characters are from the RWBYverse, apart from Monokuma, who's only a mascot.**

 **3\. Some OOCness is unavoidable. I had to rethink most characters' motivations and backstories, because almost none of the students of Beacon would willingly commit murder, and well, a killing game with no deaths... that would be awfully dull, wouldn't it?**

 **4\. This is a High School AU. Sort of. No Grimm, Aura or Semblances.**

 **With that said, I hope you enjoy the ride!**

* * *

 **Prologue - An Unfamiliar Despair  
**

The boy was woken up by the sound of his brain threatening to burst from inside his head. He moved with discomfort, becoming acutely aware of how stiff his muscles were. How long had he been asleep? It was obvious he wasn't in his bed, a bed wasn't hard and cold, feeling much like wood under his backside.

Slowly, he opened his eyes and directed his gaze down at the surface beneath him. His body seemed to be sitting on a chair, although he felt a great deal of displacement looking down at it. He didn't recognize the chair, nor the table in front of it, where his arms rested. In fact, he didn't even recognize his own body.

The thought pierced his consciousness like a high caliber bullet. Where was he? _Who_ was he?

As if he'd known all along, the answer materialized in his mind, dispelling the first layer of the confused daze he was in.

 _Jaune Arc._

Of course, how could he have forgotten his name? No, that had been a mere slip of the head. He knew plenty well who he was, how could he not? He was even wearing his trademark outfit, a pair of jeans and a black hoodie engraved with the drawing of a rabbit.

He chuckled at his own idiocy, and got up from the chair. The room he was in seemed to be a classroom, with many other sets of desks for the rest of the students. There was no one else there, however, be it classmates or even a teacher. He was alone in that unfamiliar environment.

Looking around for further clues that would help situate him, he turned around and it was at that moment that he noticed the windows, if he could even call them that. On the wall, where he would expect to see glass separating the room from the outside, there was instead a couple of wide metallic panels bolted down by comically large screws. Approaching them, he tried to yank on one of the iron plates, but the contraption didn't budge a single inch.

"What the… I guess the school doesn't want any distractions during class." As he spoke those words aloud to no one in particular, his memory flashed yet another piece of information.

 _Beacon's Peak Academy._

The most influential school in all of Vale, and maybe even the best across the whole world. Only the top students were accepted to enroll, the best of the best at their field, the so called _Ultimates_ , pupils with so great a talent they distinguished themselves from all the other high schoolers _._ Jaune had always dreamed of going to that school, of being one of the amazing people he heard about in the news. They always ended up creating great inventions, helping science take unbelievable strides, or producing art like no one had ever seen. The school cultivated talent, allowing the graduates to nourish and develop that which made them Ultimate. Being a part of Beacon was the key to success, a success he would never achieve. He was an average student; he had failed to excel at any field. He would never have a place among the elite.

Yet he had been give one. One fateful day he had come home to find a letter at the kitchen table, a letter inviting him to enroll in Beacon. Apparently, he had been picked from a random lottery out of all the students in Vale. The _Ultimate Lucky Student_ , they called him. Made a part of the greatest high school in the nation not by skill, but by mere chance.

Now feeling lost in a strange classroom, the pieces came together in his head: he had to be at Beacon's Peak Academy. It made sense, it was a school after all, even if he didn't remember how he had gotten there. Maybe it was all part of an elaborate acceptance ceremony. Regardless, if he was inside Beacon, that clearly meant one thing: there had to be other people there, people with answers.

Feeling reinvigorated by the realization, the boy quickly paced to the exit. He threw his hand to the handle, but before he could even reach it, the door swung open, striking him square in the face. The impact pushed him to the ground, providing him with yet another serving of pain.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Are you okay?" A voice came from the doorway, sounding concerned.

He blinked in disbelief as he saw the redheaded girl in front of him, offering him a hand to get up. She was tall and athletic, with strong arms he soon realized as she pulled him off the floor. She was wearing a practical outfit composed of a pair of black tight pants and a red t-shirt, matching with her hair which was tied in a ponytail.

"Sorry, again! Did I hurt you?" She repeated the question, since he had been too distract to answer it.

"Oh no, I'm fine. It was nothing, really." He instinctively raised his hand to scratch the back of his head, but instead decided to extend it to the girl, gathering up his best smile. "Hey. I'm Jaune. Jaune Arc."

She shook his hand, nearly smashing his fingers in the process. "Nice to meet you, Jaune."

"That's it?" The redhead made a confused expression, clearly not understanding what he meant. "Your name?"

"Oh, sorry. I'm Pyrrha Nikos."

Jaune thought the name sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. "So… Do you know what's going on here? I just woke up, and this is all seeming kinda strange to me."

Pyrrha smiled sadly. "Not really, everyone has the same story. We woke up recently, and we don't know where we are."

"I see… Wait, did you say 'we'? Are there more students?" He had so many questions, so many concerns, but it was refreshing to know at least he wasn't alone in that predicament. Although it would've been nice if they had some answers.

"Yes, we've been gathering in the gymnasium. I guess I should take you there…"

He nodded, and followed her outside. They entered a long hallway, walls adorned with many other doors much like the one he had been made acquainted with, meaning they were probably more classrooms. As the hall stretched on, he took note of the two smaller doors marked as bathrooms, as they would no doubt come in use later, and observed the girl walking with him.

She had a confident spring in her step, like she knew those paths from memory. It was intriguing, that she appeared to be so familiar with that strange environment when he had just woken up. _I guess that's just how Ultimates act._ He had made up his mind: they were in Beacon's Peak Academy, there was no other reasonable explanation. And that meant the girl walking in front of him was one of them. One of the talented.

Jaune struggled against the voice inside his head telling him he wasn't worthy, he wasn't good enough to talk to an Ultimate, and decided to mention what he had observed.

"How can you not be scared?" Pyrrha stopped suddenly, and turned around to face him with a quizzical look. "We woke up in a strange place, with no clue why we're here, and you seem to be keeping your composure really well. I'm… kind of a mess right now, so it looks weird that you can hold your own like that."

He wasn't lying. Ever since waking up there was an ever-present pit in his stomach, a quiet anxiety that didn't hurt but slowly crept on his sanity and swallowed it bit by bit. There was just something inherently distressing about that whole situation, a feeling of unease that only piled on to his countless doubts, even if he couldn't quite explain why.

"Why do you think I'm not scared?"

"Well, you were looking for people, right? That's why you entered the room I was in; you were looking for other students. That means you woke up in this place, in this strange…situation, and your first instinct was to help someone else."

Pyrrha laughed. It wasn't condescending laughter, but genuine amusement.

"Actually, I was roaming the school to avoid… Ah, you'll meet them soon enough." She chuckled yet again, and resumed the walk.

It wasn't long after that they reached a turn in the hall, and its end, where a large double metallic door stood imposingly, and from within came the sounds of shouting. He couldn't quite discern any particular words through the muffled barrier, but it seemed to consist of two very angry girls, yelling at each other.

He looked sheepishly at his guide, who gave him a guilty half-smile, and pushed open the entrance.

As he stepped inside, he looked around to find a wide gymnasium, big enough to house an entire football field. Metallic rods curved over on the ceiling, forming a structure much like a vault. There were white bleachers on the farther side, and to the left was a wooden stage with a small podium. The rubbery floor was oddly orange and coarse.

Of course, Jaune Arc saw all of those things, but registered none of them. The reason for that was, evidently, the show currently happening right at the center of the gym.

First, he noticed the ivory-haired girl. She was standing up, arms crossed over her chest, wearing an equally white and elegant dress, that fell over her form like a cloud. She was quite beautiful, in a prim and proper sense, although her expression was far from composed. Her face was reddened and her veins protruding from screaming. She must have been at it for a while, considering her state, but her voice was untainted and melodic, even through all the rage it convened.

Across from her, sitting on the lower stand of the bleachers, was a raven-haired girl with little cat ears protruding from beneath her mane. She wore white jeans and a black hoodie, no doubt to be able to cover the animal traits if such need arose. Her eyes were golden and irate, and, despite her position, she seemed to be just as engrossed in the angry discussion as the other one.

"So, what if we fight back? You have been enslaving us and exploiting our people for generations! We have every right to be angry!"

"And does that give you the right for murder too? Does it give you the right to kill my..." The white-clad girl's screaming voice faltered in those last words, but the argument didn't stop. Compassion was clearly off the table for those two.

"As if you haven't killed thousands of us too!"

It didn't take a genius, which was fortunate because Jaune clearly wasn't one, to figure out that the topic at hand there was the Faunus race.

Jaune vaguely knew about the issue, even though he had personally met very few of their kind. The Faunus were a race that displayed traits of an animal, like a tail, horns, or cat ears like the one he was currently looking at. Besides that evident distinction, they also benefited from other qualities like night vision. However, that was where the advantages stopped.

For years, decades even, the Faunus had been victim of discrimination. They were considered by many to be lesser beings, closer to their feral nature than humans. Their talents were exploited by companies, particularly mining ones, since they could work in much darker places than any man could. They were refused service in restaurants, scoffed at on the street, and relegated to live on the outside of towns, forced to create small and precarious villages of their own.

Of course, after some time the Faunus had begun revolting, demanding to be treated like people. Jaune had only read about it in school history manuals, but he knew about the Faunus War. He had been taught in school about how many had died on both sides, in that gruesome conflict, about how the Faunus, despite having almost only rudimentary weapons they made with their own hands, had proved to be a ruthless opponent. In the end, after so many losses, a truce was reluctantly established, and the Faunus given full citizenship. That hadn't brought about the definitive ending of the discrimination, but it was a great victory.

Just thinking about it was starting to give the boy a raging headache, so he turned to his companion for help.

"Hey, isn't that girl a famous singer? I feel like I remember her from somewhere."

"Yes, that's Weiss Schnee. I hear she's a pretty amazing interpreter, although I admit I haven't heard any of her work."

"Well you can hear it now; doesn't she sound great?" It was a corny attempt at humor, the kind he'd make when he was feeling uncomfortable, but to his surprise Pyrrha burst out laughing.

He felt soothed by her laughter. He wasn't used to people finding him funny, or even paying him any attention for that matter, but above all it was good to see someone at ease, when he felt so overwhelmingly anxious.

Sadly, the two arguing girls didn't share the same reaction, in fact they were still screaming with such abandon that they completely failed to notice it. Luckily, someone else decided it was time to intervene.

"You two are scaring off the newcomer." The commotion stopped, and everyone in the room turned to look at the source of the voice.

Amidst the confusion, Jaune had failed to see the boy sitting on the upper side of the bleachers. Stepping out from the background, he leapt graciously from the upper stand back on the ground and walked in their direction. He wore a green oriental jacket and dark pants, matching with his long black hair, tied in a ponytail, and decorated with a pink streak that fell over the side of his face.

The boy approached Jaune and wordlessly stretched his hand, which he accepted.

"That's Lie Ren. He's the Ultimate Cook." Pyrrha broke the silence to offer some information.

"Nice to meet you. Jaune Arc." He then pointed at his companion and added. "And she's Pyrrha."

Ren smiled subtly at that last part. "We've met."

 _Right, she just mentioned his talent. They probably met earlier when she came here._ Jaune felt stupid for not having figured it out. Simultaneously, he was also painfully reminded that he still didn't know Pyrrha's talent, but he didn't even think to ask. They were Ultimates, and he was nothing. He could pretend that she was just a normal girl, and even though he was clearly aware it was just an illusion, he was adamant to keep it going for as long as he could.

The Ultimate Cook went back to his seat, now that his work was done and peace had been restored, leaving the blond boy in the middle of the silenced atmosphere. Desperate to break the awkwardness, he shuffled over to the ivory girl and offered his hand in greeting.

She scoffed at him.

"Do you really think you are worthy of touching me?" He flinched at the animosity coming from her soft red lips. "Tell me, _Jaune Arc_ , what is even your talent? You'd better have a good one if you wish to associate with me."

He swallowed dryly. The moment he so dreaded had come, the time to lift the veil on his uselessness.

"I'm... the Ultimate Lucky Student. I was picked at random to come to Beacon."

No one laughed, but neither did they speak. The lack of reaction was almost like they were ignoring his presence. He felt his insides burning.

Weiss' face contorted in a display of astonishment, but she wasted no time in reverting to her mask of serenity, and promptly turned her back on him, striding off somewhere she couldn't see him.

 _Rejected_.

He had expected that reaction, but it pierced his heart nonetheless. He could still sense the redhead's presence behind him, but he was too afraid to look at her. She had treated him kindly, with respect, and he didn't want to see that smile being turned into a betrayed frown. He had deceived her by not telling her his talent, made her to think he wasn't mere trash. The reckoning for his deeds was more than he could bear.

He sank on the ground, wishing he was able to disappear, fade into nothingness and away from the other students. He wasn't worthy of being one of the Ultimates. He was just Jaune.

A hand gripped his shoulder, and he instinctively turned to find the Pyrrha Nikos squatting to be at his level, and smiling at him.

"Well, I personally think that's a great talent you have there. Having luck sounds like a marvelous thing."

"You don't have to lie to cheer me up, Pyrrha. It's okay, I know I'm useless."

Her hand moved quickly, striking him on the cheek. It was soft, barely more than a pinch, and it surprised him more than it actually hurt. In all fairness, she looked just as astonished, mortified even, staring at her hand like it was a sinful appendix needing to be amputated.

"I'm so sorry! Did I hurt you?" He shook his head. "I just don't want to see you do that to yourself. You are in Beacon, aren't you? Then you are one of us. You can't put yourself down."

He laughed nervously. "It's easy for you to talk, you have amazing abilities, while I'm just… average."

The girl hid her disappointed eyes beneath the palm of her hand, and sighed deeply. Then, out of the blue, she raised her head as if an idea had just formed in her head. She got up and forcefully grabbed his arm, pulling him along.

"Hey!"

"We're going to deal with your self-worth issues, and we're doing it now. You are going to talk to…" She glanced around the wide room, and her green eyes fell on the girl with the black hoodie, who was sitting in the bleachers, engrossed in a book with no markings on the cover. "…her."

Jaune looked at his companion pleadingly, but she wasn't about to take any nonsense. Reluctantly, he walked over to the bleachers, but before he could greet her, the girl's ears twitched and she looked up from her book. There was a frown on her face, unhappy about being interrupted, but it softened slightly as soon as she saw it wasn't the ivory singer.

"What do you want?"

"I just wanted to know who I'm here with. And since you already know my name, I guessed..."

"Blake Belladonna." As soon as the required information had been shared, she lowered her gaze back to the printed pages.

Pyrrha filled the silence that had once again fallen.

"She's the Ultimate..." Something made the redhead unsure, because she did not finish the sentence.

"Terrorist. No point in beating around the bush."

The boy felt his blood chill inside his veins. That stranger had not only just admitted to being a murderer, the way she had done was so detached, like she had talked about her unremarkable breakfast. He just stood frozen, unsure of what to say, which seemed to suit Blake just fine, as it meant she could keep reading in peace.

He glanced at Pyrrha, and she gave him a gentle nod, encouraging him to keep the conversation going.

"You're with the White Fang, right? That's what you two were arguing about. I heard about them, Faunus freedom fighters against human rule or something like that."

"Freedom fighters, huh? Not everyone calls us that. Not everyone understands what it's like to be offered a hand, but slapped with the other. Certainly not a Schnee." She grimaced whilst speaking, but never took her eyes off the book.

When once again no one spoke, Pyrrha decided the exercise had gone on long enough.

"I think she'd rather be left alone. We should go."

Blake nodded at the redhead, and kept reading.

They walked through the long football field and away from the Ultimate Terrorist. Jaune breathed out deeply, feeling the weight of the stress leave him.

"Please don't make me do that again. It was painful."

"Okay maybe that wasn't the best choice, but you need to work on your self-esteem, Jaune. And talking to them is the best way to do it, to have you realize we're just people like you."

He was about to retort, but the Gym door slammed open, and in came two more girls.

"Just as we expected, the main door was locked shut, and it's reinforced steel, so that puppy isn't going to move anytime soon." The girl who spoke had luscious blonde hair flowing over her shoulders and all the way down her back, framing her rosy cheeks, clearly from exerting effort, and sparkling lilac eyes. She wore a leather jacket over an orange top that gave up just after her bellybutton, and brown cargo pants.

"Wait, does that mean we're really stuck here?" Jaune voiced the concern shared by everyone that had gathered to hear the news. The feeling of danger could easily override any confidence issues he had.

"Oh, you're new. Well, New Guy, did you see the windows? They're SUUUUUUUPER heavy and well bolted. Someone doesn't want us leaving here." The other girl that had just entered had short bright orange hair and green eyes, her whole body screamed energy, from the way she spoke to how she never seemed to stop moving. She had pink boots and a matching pink skirt, and above a blue jacket and a white top, featuring a small opening over her chest. Jaune didn't get the purpose of that opening, but in all fairness, what did he know of fashion?

Pyrrha came behind him, and took care of the introductions.

"That over there is Nora Valkyrie, the Ultimate Blacksmith." She gestured towards the ginger, who waved, and then to the blonde. "And that's Yang Xiao Long, Ultimate... Boxer?"

"Yep, that's me!" Yang flexed her arms, and though it was just a joke, he felt menaced by the musculature on that woman. He made a mental note never to make her angry, it would surely be a costly mistake.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Jaune. Ultimate... Lucky Student." He almost hesitated at that last part, but a swift elbow to his ribs fixed the anxiety.

"Oh, cool. More importantly, look what we found!" She turned behind her, and rotated her head looking for something. He was thrown off-balance by how quickly she accepted his worthless talent. "Dammit, where did she go?"

The Ultimate Boxer walked back to the double doors she had entered from, and not even a second later she returned dragging along a very petite girl. She would appear to have their age, but she was so much shorter that it made her look like a child. Her hair was parted between pink and brown, probably inspired by her eyes which featured the same colors. She had very tight fitting clothes, dark pants and a pink and white jacket, which helped not only with not only mobility but also to prove she wasn't really a little girl.

"Isn't she cute?" Yang seemed overly excited about it all, making the girl she had hostage roll her eyes.

"Well, does she have a name?"

"I don't think she speaks..." Yang was trying to explain when her hand was forcefully pulled down to the petite girl's level. "What are you... oh, are you spelling? Are you spelling your name?"

The short girl drew on Yang's palm. "N... E... O... Neo? Is that your name?" She nodded.

Everyone was silently staring at Yang and Neo, watching that odd display.

"And what's your talent, Ne- OH, I didn't know the human body could bend that way..."

"So, is she like the Ultimate Contortionist?" Nora asked eagerly, and Neo, now back to a normal position, shrugged her shoulders, indicating the guess had been not quite there, but close enough.

The commotion revolving the three new entries kept going, mostly through conversing with the apparently mute girl, which posed an entertaining challenge, but Jaune did not participate. He slowly took a few steps back, and inconspicuously left the rest of the students behind, moving back to the bleachers. Blake was there too, engrossed in her book once more, but he didn't join her. There was too much on his mind at the moment.

 _"Someone doesn't want us leaving here."_

They were trapped inside the school, with no way of escaping. Eight students so far, but he had no idea of knowing how many more there were. Who had closed them inside? What were their intentions? Everything about it reeked of danger, he could feel the skin of his arms tingling. But worst of all, no one else seemed to be reacting to that impending darkness. A room full of Ultimates, the talented elite, and he appeared to be the only one noticing it. Did they know something he didn't? The doubts swirled around his mind, making him feel dizzy and disoriented.

He looked around, searching for any form of solace, anything familiar that could ease his mind and make him feel like he wasn't in such an alien place. The crowd was dispersing, each one going their individual way, and Pyrrha was travelling towards him. The boy smiled at her, but as he observed her approach, his eye caught a glimpse of something else.

The gymnasium door opened ever so slightly, and a girl slid through the opening, with orange hair that curled at chin-length, and a tilted pink bow tying it behind. Her clothing was simple, a green summer dress over a grey puffy shirt, and black thigh-high socks and shoes. She glanced at both sides, and her vivid green eyes widened, evidently frightened by the number of people in there. Sticking to the wall, she attempted to move away from the other students, most of which had yet to notice her, like a skittish animal slowly backing away from a threat.

Jaune got up. She was clearly in deep distress, which was something he could very well relate to, so he couldn't just stand and watch. He noticed Weiss Schnee do the same thing, which he found surprising since she had yet to show even a trace of compassion, but he didn't question it. She surely had her motives. Pyrrha followed them as soon as she understood what their intent was.

The frightened girl sat down on the floor, close to a corner, and hugged her knees. When she saw the approaching group, she cowered even further.

"Hey, hey. It's okay. We're not going to hurt you." Weiss was the one who spoke.

She looked at her sheepishly. "Where… where am I?"

The singer looked back at the other too, her icy irises asking for help, as her pride would never allow her to do it with words. Pyrrha took the lead.

"We think it's Beacon's Peak Academy. You just woke up here, didn't you? That's what happened to us." The girl nodded, looking more and more like she was fighting back tears. "What your name?"

"Penny…"

Pyrrha smiled kindly. "It's very nice to meet you, Penny. I'm Pyrrha Nikos, and that's Jaune Arc and Weiss Schnee."

Jaune tried a half-smile, but it was the best he could muster. The pit in his stomach was still there, as was the feeling of extreme unease.

"What's your talent, Penny?"

"I… can't say."

"What do you mean you can't say? Are you hiding anything from us?"

"Weiss, maybe we should back off. If she doesn't want to say, don't pressure her."

The Ultimate Singer made an offended look, and stormed off.

"I'm sorry, I really can't…"

"It's okay, don't worry about it. She's… an acquired taste." It was an odd choice of words, but it earned him a giggle, so he took it as a victory.

"Do you want to join the rest of the group?"

"I… I think I'd rather stay here a little longer, if that's alright."

Pyrrha nodded, and they left the scared girl behind, sharing a concerned look between them. The sentiment, however, was short-lived, since yet another distraction decided to appear. A girl in a stylish brown jacket and pants appeared almost if from nowhere, and began inspecting them from up close.

"That hoodie with those jeans really? Ugh, there is no saving you, but… you darling, hmm, with that I can work."

"AH WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?"

The woman pointed at the gymnasium door. _Right, that's where everyone comes from, idiot._

She was wearing sunglasses indoors and a black beret, holding in place the light brown strand of her dark brown hair. Behind her stood an imposing figure, a monster of a man that cast a shadow that could probably swallow Jaune whole. He had buzz-cut hair, and wore a short-sleeved green robe over a brown t-shirt, showing off his toned and muscled arms, and light brown pants. At his hip, strapped to his thick belt, was a sheathed bamboo sword.

"Hey, I'm Jaune Arc, and this is Pyrrha Nikos."

"Coco Adel, and he's…" She turned to look at the towering man. "Sorry, I'll probably butcher the pronunciation of your name."

"Yatsuhashi Daichi."

Pyrrha looked at him with curiosity.

"You're the Ultimate Swordsman, aren't you? I've heard about you before." He nodded, apparently not a man of many words.

"And I, as you can obviously tell by the fact that I'm the most well-dressed person in the room, am the Ultimate Fashionista." She looked around, but her eyes stopped at a certain person inside. "Oh. Schnee."

Hearing her named called, Weiss looked over, and made an equally formal and detached voice. "Adel."

"You two know each other?"

"We've… met. People of the high society tend to."

The topic was cut short there, luckily, as both girls didn't look to keen on speaking any further, by loud voices coming from the just outside the gymnasium. The door opened, and three people came inside.

"And then I... Oh, didn't know there were people here."

The boy stopped dead on his tracks, his story interrupted but a smile still on his lips. He chiseled abs shown off by an open vest and nothing else on his torso, and a pair of jean shorts, from behind which a fuzzy monkey tail, faded yellow just like his hair, could be seen. A Faunus, and he wasn't alone.

Behind him was another Faunus, a brunette girl with large bunny ears. She wore a brown sweater and shorts over black thighs, and had yet to stop taking pictures of all the classmates inside.

The third member of that little group was a girl, who, much like the boy, had no quarrel with exposing her olive skin. She wore a very short sleeveless green top, matching with her short hairdo, and white pants. The most striking feature of her look was, however, her vivid red eyes.

Coco was the first to greet the newcomers, not by talking but inspecting them up close and muttering under her breath.

"Peculiar choice... could be salvaged, I guess... hmm..."

"Hey, I'm Sun. She's Emerald, and..." He pointed at the girl in back. "...Velvet."

"We apparently all woke up in weird classrooms, and happened to run into each other on the way here." Emerald was the one who decided to explain their situation.

"Let me guess, you are the Ultimate Abs, she is obviously the Ultimate Photographer, and you... I got nothing." Nora busted in through the crowd and proceeded to point at Sun, then Velvet, and finally Emerald.

"I'm the Ultimate Magician, and if I remember correctly he is the Ultimate Thief, not... abs."

"Ooooh a magician, can you do a trick?" The blacksmith was practically jumping up and down in place with excitement.

"Sorry, I forgot my c-"

"Wait, do you just say 'thief'?" Weiss had been strangely quiet, considering two new Faunus had just joined the group.

"First a terrorist and now a thief, are we really just going to let them run around unrestricted? They're a menace to our safety!"

Yang stood in front of the heiress of the Schnee family, facing her directly. She wasn't outright enraged, but her face had a distinct ' _no lollygagging'_ expression.

"Look, princess, if you try something, it will be the last thing you try."

"Are you threatening me?"

Pyrrha stepped in between them, making sure nothing actually happened.

"I think maybe you two should stop with the hostilities."

Weiss took off once again, it was something she was apparently very good at. The blond brawler, on the other hand, wasted no time in getting over the matter.

"That makes…" Yang pointed at each one of them, counting in her head. "…fourteen of us. I wonder if that's all."

There was a murmur of agreement. It had been a while since the first of them had arrived at the gymnasium, and the numbers had kept increasing steadily, but at one point it had to stop.

"Actually…" Everyone turned to look at Ren, still sitting at the top of the bleachers. "We're missing one person."

"How do you know that?" Blake's was heard for the first time in quite a while.

"I found a box up here, it has some sort of tablets with each of our names on it. And there's fifteen of them."

"Why didn't you say anything until now?" Coco hadn't been there for that long, but she felt lied to nonetheless.

"I was waiting for everyone to arrive. I thought it would be more fair if we all saw what's in the tablets at the same time. After all, they could contain the reason why we're here." He talked calmly, every word pronounced with care.

The whole class fell silent. " _The reason why we're here."_ It was the question on the back of everyone's minds, the unanswered thorn on their sides since waking up. Jaune wanted to know, but at the same time he was scared. What if he didn't like the answer? He imagined most of the others felt the same way, if the aura of quietness was anything to go by.

Yang, however, had other concerns.

"Wait, you said the tablets had our names on them? Then who's the missing person?"

He picked up a thin object from behind his back, and raised it so he could read, but before he could the large door creaked open one final time. All fourteen students stared impatiently at it, expecting the final piece of the puzzle.

The girl who walked in measured the whole gym with her eyes in an instant, and then made a yelping sound.

"YANG!"

She took off running before Jaune could even take a good look at her, a red blur speeding towards her target. She jumped at an unsuspecting Yang Xiao Long, who nearly fell down trying to keep balance from the tackle, arms tightly wrapping around her.

"Ruby? Is that you?"

"I'm guessing you two have also met before."

"Of course, she's my sister!" Ruby removed her arms from around her prey, and grinned happily. She had a red hoodie and a matching skirt over black ties and boots. She wasn't too tall, but nowhere near Neo's height of course.

"And does she have a talent?" Jaune noted how Weiss seemed to be really insistent on knowing everyone's talents. It was almost like she was scoping out who among them could be a threat or not.

"Lil' sis here is the Ultimate Sharpshooter. She has special eyes, she can spot a fly from a mile away, and you don't want to see what she can do with a scope!" Yang grabbed her sibling with one arm, displaying a proud look in her eyes.

"Wait, did you say little?" Yatsuhashi and Sun stepped out of the way, allowing Velvet to look at the receiver of her question.

"Yep, two years younger but already in High School. That's how special she is." Ruby looked down embarrassedly, and blushed a little at the praised she was getting.

"So..." A voice that didn't belong to any of the pupils interrupted their banter, an unknown presence elsewhere in the gymnasium.

"Everyone's finally here? Upupupupupupu"

The fifteen students all turned to the source of that eerie laughter, the stage on the upper side of them gym, or more specifically, the podium.

"Then let's begin."

 **PROLOGUE END**

 **Students Alive - 15**

* * *

 **That... was so freaking long, oh wow. Future chapters will probably vary in length, but I doubt any will be of this size. You can't imagine what a pain to proof-read that is - I'm sure a few mistakes slipped by me.  
**

 **Anyway, the stage is set and the actors are in place. Are you curious about where it will take us? Are you mad because I removed Mercury as the Ultimate Break-dancer from my early plan for this story? Think you know who will be the first to die?  
**

 **Then why don't you leave a review? I'd really appreciate it.**


	2. Chapter 1-1

**Chapter 1 - Headmaster of Despair**

"What the..."

"Is this a joke?"

"Why is that teddy bear talking?"

"It's some kind of illusion, right?"

"Hey don't look at me, I didn't do this!"

"Maybe it's remote controlled?"

"How else would a plushy be talking?"

The students were all in disarray, thrown off by the strange sight in front of them.

On top of the podium was a small bear, split in the middle between white and pitch black. The white half had a small dark eye and a bear's nose, giving it a friendly and inviting look. The other half, however, had a deformed eye, a curved lightning bolt in blood red, and a twisted grin that felt inexplicably threatening. The duality between cuddly and blood-thirsty was enough to confuse and frighten the fifteen pupils inside that gymnasium, but not nearly as much as the fact it could speak.

"Hey watch your tone, young lady! I'm no stuffed toy, I'm a bear, as real the day I was born!" Its voice sounded almost cartoonish, but at the same time scratchy and filled with contempt. "Besides, is that any way of treating the Headmaster of this fine academy?"

Their unbelieving murmur was replaced by an unbelieving silence. Not only were they talking to a teddy bear, the creature had just claimed to be the headmaster of the school. It was all just so bizarre, so absurd, there was no way any of them could process what was happening.

Sun burst out laughing, inadvertently becoming the target of everyone else's attention.

"This is great! I've seen some crazy pranks before, but this one really takes the cake." He explained, shrugging his shoulders in a carefree manner.

"You think this is a joke, do you? Then test me, and see what happens!"

"Test you? Like what? Like... touch you?" His laughter died out, and he became serious. Apparently, there was still some common sense in him, although the same could not be said for everyone.

"Oh, you're such a big baby." Nora walked ahead of the others, ignoring those who tried to dissuade her from it, and jumped on top of the stage, proceeding to touch the mascot with one finger. "Come on, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Careful now, you don't wanna poke the bear too much. It could bite." The animal spoke slowly, putting the threat underneath the words more than actually in them. The blacksmith didn't listen.

"It's just a toy, look!" She picked up the accursed thing, and began playfully throwing it in the air. Jaune subconsciously held his breath, expecting something drastic to happen, but nothing did. The bear fell on the girl's hands like a ragdoll.

 _Beep._

She threw it again, giggling amusedly at her new plaything.

 _Beep._

And once again it fell down harmlessly.

 _Beep._

The bear had stopped speaking since being picked up, but was instead emitting a strange sound.

 _Beep_.

"GET RID OF THAT THING!" Blake shouted at the top of her lungs, running and pushing students to get to the redheaded girl.

"Huh?" Nora looked at the Faunus with a confused expression, the plushy limp in her hands.

 _Beep._

"IT'S A BOMB!"

The Ultimate Blacksmith took a second to register the words that had just been yelled at her. Then it hit, and she threw the animal as far as she could, aimed at the nearby bleachers, where it would hopefully be far enough away from everyone.

Before it reached its target, the bear exploded in a fiery rage, making the ground shake from the aftershock. Jaune's ears were ringing, his eyes cloudy from the glow of the explosion, and his stomach bubbling with nausea.

"Still think it's a prank?"

Nora yelped loudly, jumping at the sound coming from behind her. Stepping off the way, she revealed that standing atop the podium was a bear perfectly similar to the one that had just blown up in front of them.

"I ought to punish you for that, but I'll let it slide just this once." He wasn't pleased in the slightest.

"H... How is it still alive?"

"We just saw it..."

"This is impossible..."

Weiss moved to the forefront of the crowd, and addressed the beast directly.

"What do you want from us? You must've brought us here for a reason." She was adamant, a perfect image of composure. The boy wondered how much of it was actually true.

"Don't get ahead of yourself there, princess. First things first, my name is Monokuma, and as the Headmaster it is my pleasure to welcome you to this fine academy. I hope you like the premises, because you will be staying here **forever**."

 _What? Did he just say forever?_ His gut feeling had been correct, they were prisoners inside the school. It all added up, plated windows, a reinforced door, all of them waking up without a clue on how they had gotten there, it was a kidnapping, plain and simple. Yet there was no confetti or celebrations for him being right. Instead he was filled with a dread the scale of which he had never experienced. And deep down he knew the worst was yet to come.

"You're all awfully quiet, aren't you? Oh, I'm sorry, did the brochure failed to mention? You can't leave the school once you enter." Monokuma was clearly having fun, but he was the only one in the room with high spirits.

"This can't be serious!"

"I can't stay here forever, what about my family?"

"Me too, they're waiting to hear from me!"

The bear chuckled, in that unsettling way only he knew how to. "Upupupupu. Why would ever want to leave? This is such a nice place, with plenty of food, water, and breathable air."

"Screw that, I want to get out now!" Emerald's voice raised above the others. She didn't sound scared, but rather angry.

"Oh? You want out that much? Well there is one way..."

"Tell me, what do I have to do?"

"It's easy. All you have to do is **_kill someone_**."

The olive-skinned girl staggered back, caught unaware by the beast's words. Everyone in the room was dead quiet, fearful of what revelations might come next.

"What's the matter, didn't you want to go home? Then, kiddo, you'd better get chopping."

"Screw you, we would never do that!" Jaune was surprised to hear his own voice resonate through the high walls, a shout of defiance that was very unlike him. But deep inside he was sure, he knew that he was surrounded by remarkable people that would never sink so low as to fall prey of such absurd threats.

"Then you will stay inside this school forever, simple as that."

No one felt like talking anymore. They just wanted to wake up from that nightmarish place.

"Aaaanyway, I prepared some handy guides to help in your stay here. I believe one of you has them..."

Ren grabbed one of the tablets and raised it inquisitively, asking if that was what he meant.

"That's exactly it, do you mind giving everyone theirs?" The chef did as he was told. "Those sexy pieces of hardware are called Scrolls. Get it, because you have to... ah you kids have no sense of humor."

"Ahem. They will serve as your identification. They have no internet so don't get any ideas, you perverts! What they do have is a map of the premises, and the rules for behaving inside the academy. I suggest you give those a look right now."

Jaune stared down at the tablet in his hands, his name written in black marker at the bottom. He pressed the power button, and the screen lit up, revealing his name yet again, but this time accompanied by a picture of his face. After a small loading time, the menu opened and he selected the tab called school regulations.

 _Rule n°1 - Violence against headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as is the destruction of any doors, monitors, or security cameras._

 _Rule n°2 - "Nighttime" is from 11pm to 8am. During this time, water will be cut off in your rooms, and certain areas automatically locked._

 _Rule n°3 - Sleeping outside the dormitories will be considered as sleeping in class, and will be punished accordingly._

 _Rule n°4 - Anyone who commits murder will graduate, provided their deeds are not discovered by their classmates._

 _Rule n°5 - Killing more than two other students is expressly forbidden._

 _Rule n°6 - Additional rules may be added if the headmaster so wills it._

The boy read them once, twice, three times, before any of it actually registered in his brain. _"Security cameras"_? " _Sleeping in class_ "? _"Killing more than two other students_ "? It was all just so jarring, so... inconceivable.

"When in here it says 'punished', what does that mean?" Ruby was the first to speak, a testament to her quick eyes and mind.

Monokuma didn't dance around the issue. "Executed."

There was a collective gasp, as if they had all been punched on the chest and deprived of all breath. It would've almost been comical, how coordinated it sounded, but neither one of the students was in the state of mind to laugh. Nevertheless, someone in the room was having the time of his life.

"Upupupupu, you should all see your faces. The fear, the doubt, the despair. What's the matter? Aren't you Ultimates, the chosen elite of the Kingdom of Vale?"

Jaune glanced at the side, and saw Pyrrha looking worriedly at him. She knew what he was thinking - that he was just a weakling compared to them; that if they were doubtful, he would be much worse. He found it unbelievable that amidst all that darkness, she had taken the time to think of him, of useless, average Jaune.

"Why... Why are you doing this to us?" Penny was sobbing, her voice nothing more than a feeble plead for answers.

"Why? Who cares about that! Reasons are for stuck-up bears, and in the safari, I was known as the most rebel of all the bears! Maybe I'm doing this for fun, maybe it's to prove a point, who cares?"

"'Who cares'? It's our lives you're talking about!" Yang roared, cool and easy-going temper thrown to the wind. She stomped through the rubbery floor, pushing away the classmates that were in the way.

"Sis, stop! He could kill you!"

"Listen to your sister, miss Xiao Long. If you attack me, I'll have to punish you for breaking the rules." The mascot extended his claws for emphasis.

The Ultimate Boxer didn't care, she kept moving closer to the headmaster. When she was just next to the podium, she clenched her fist and threw her arm back to build momentum. Yet at the last moment, her attack was interrupted by a hand wrapped around her wrist.

"Calm down, or you'll only make things worse." Blake's voice was strangely calm and detached. The blonde turned around, practically growling at her, but made no more attempts at violence.

"Whew, that was really close, I didn't want to have to do anything drastic." Monokuma pretended to wipe the sweat off his furry brow, and then looked down at his empty wrist. "Oh, would you look at the time! This bear's got place to be, smell ya later."

After his nearly incomprehensible babble, the mascot jumped backwards, falling behind the podium. Jaune quickly ran up to it, hoping to see where the monochrome plushy was off to, but to his surprise he found nothing behind it but the floorboards of the stage.

"He vanished?"

"Probably a trap door." He gave Emerald an inquisitive look, to which she replied by pointing at herself. "Ultimate Magician, remember? I know a trick when I see it."

 **DING DONG DING DONG**

The loud noise coming from the speakers on the back of the stage interrupted their banter.

 **"This is a School Announcement. It's 11 PM. Nighttime is now in effect. The cafeteria doors will be closing soon, so make sure you're not inside. Have a good night!"**

The whole class traded glances, unsure of what to do. They were scared and exhausted after what had seemed like the longest day of their lives. It would take time to process all that information, to come to terms with the living-nightmare they were in, and a good night's sleep was sounding increasingly like a wonderful idea.

"So... this thing mentions rooms? Anyone know where they are?" Sun gestured at the scroll, illustrating his confusion.

"Pretty sure I saw them on the other side of the school. Also, there's a map function, dummy." Velvet pointed at the button in the tablet that opened the map of the school.

Nevertheless, they all ended up following Velvet through the hall, and eventually reached the strangely red and L-shaped corridor where the rooms were. There were sixteen doors, each with a name plaque, bar the last one which seemed to be empty. Silently, they checked the names for each of their respective rooms.

Jaune's was the third on the right side, a dark red door with a button next to it, which he assumed was the doorbell, and a small scanner that acted as the lock. He glanced to the side and saw Pyrrha in front of the very next door, moving her scroll in front of the scanner. It beeped softly, and the door made a clanking noise, announcing it was unlocked. She gave him a smile before going in, and he repeated the same process she had just performed.

Walking inside, he took in the room that he had been assigned to. The first thing he noticed was the jarring décor. The floor was a tiled dark blue, yet the walls were pink and the furniture brown, plus the silver of the bolted plate that was supposed to be a window, a strange choice of colors that really didn't seem to match. There was a neatly made bed, which was almost staring at him invitingly, a long bedside table with a small notepad on top of it, a closet for his clothes, and round table with a chair next to it. Behind him was a small bathroom, but when he went in and tried to use the sink nothing happened.

 _Right, the water is cut off during nighttime._

Feeling an overwhelming weariness fall upon his shoulders, the boy crashed on the bed without even removing his clothes. He just wanted that day to end.

* * *

 **DING DONG DING DONG**

Jaune was staring blankly at the ceiling when he heard the announcement sound. He hadn't managed to sleep much, his brain was still swirling and buzzing with so many doubts, making him feel just as tired as when he had lied down. He turned to the source of the noise, the corner of the room near the ceiling, and saw an image of Monokuma appear on a small screen, with a big security camera right next to it. He wondered how he had missed those two things when he first came in, but in all fairness his mind hadn't been in the right place.

 **"Gooood morning, everyone! It is now 8 am. Time to get up and face another day."**

"Strangely upbeat for someone who wants us to kill each other." He sighed as he got up from the bed, and went to check the closet.

Despite not expecting to find anything there, he opened it to find his clothes properly folded and hanged. He didn't remember doing that, but he couldn't have done it, could he? It was the first time he had ever been inside that school, so why were his clothes in there?

It was just one more on the pile of many questions he had, so he tried his best to shrug it off and not think about it. Picking up a clean change of underwear and a t-shirt, he moved to the bathroom and proceeded to strip naked. He didn't want the camera to film him removing his clothes, it felt too intrusive.

The water in the shower was warm and soothing, one of the very little things that felt right since he had woken up in that odd classroom. Inside the small cubicle, with the hot stream running through his whole body, he didn't feel endangered, almost like the fake-glass walls shielded him from the horrors of the outside.

With muscles relaxed and head clearer, the realization of how long it had been since his last meal hit him with full force, by way of a persistent pain in his stomach. He quickly got dressed, and headed out the room, guided only by his hazy memory of the school halls, and his desperate need for food.

Outside his door, he turned right, passing by first Pyrrha's and then Velvet's. He thought about ringing the redhead's doorbell, but reconsidered and kept moving. There was no way she had missed the morning announcement, and besides... he was still just average Jaune. There were certainly better people to see first thing in the morning.

After the red corridor, the wall turned white again, and curved to the left in a small dead end with a door, but he skipped it. Still going forward, he came across two large double doors with a fork and knife sign next to them. _Score._ He pushed then open, already salivating.

The cafeteria was an ample space, black and white tiled floor under a number of red tables with chairs aligned with them, a tall ceiling, and... _those darned iron plates again._ The right wall was completely covered, not even an inch visible of what should rightfully be glass peering at the outside. Forcing his eyes off of the dreaded things, he directed his gaze at the wide table at the center of the room. There were already people sitting down, and a surprising large and varied amount of food laying on top of it.

He counted five of them. Yatsuhashi was sitting down at the middle, eating a piece of toast with jam on it, and across from him was Nora, wolfing down an absurd pile of various meats with a strange dedication. Velvet was sitting in front of a plate of assorted fruits, but seemed to be a lot more interested in the conversation she was having with Pyrrha, who was herself chewing on an energy bar. By the looks of things, and the gestures accompanying it, they seemed to be talking about his first encounter with the redhead, and also with the door of the classroom. Finally, sitting by herself, Weiss was quietly nibbling on a red apple, her alert blue eyes measuring everyone in the room.

Those very same eyes turned to Jaune when he tried to approach her, deep with contempt. He swallowed dryly and moved on, and luckily someone else saw him.

"Hey Jaune." He was greeted by the flash of the rabbit faunus' camera. "We saved you a spot!"

He pulled up a chair next to them, and braced for the inevitable.

"So, Pyrrha was just telling me how you two met..."

 _Jaune, the Ultimate Joke. Hurtful, but it fits._

"Has she told you the part where she apologized 12 times?" It was an exaggeration, but payback was too delicious.

"I didn't... did I?" He almost felt guilty at how confused she looked, but the giggling fit Velvet let out made up for it.

"Anyway, who made all this? It's a lot of food..."

"That would be Ren. He's been working non-stop since we woke up, he's really impressive."

Right on cue, the cook came out from the small door on the back of the room, carrying a platter with strange foods that he couldn't even begin to recognize. He was wearing a pink apron that read _"Please do nothing to the cook."_ , which gave the blond boy a chuckle. Ren would be surely needing it, if the blacksmith kept eating like that. He placed the platter down, and gave the ginger a silent desperate look, before going back.

"You're going to give Ren a stroke if you keep eating like that, Nora." Pyrrha covered her mouth as she giggled.

"Me and big guy over here are having a competition to see who can eat more!"

"We're not competing." Yatsu spoke in a calm tone, unbothered by any of it.

"You only say that 'cause you're losing!" They all laughed, watching the ginger dig once more into her never-ending pile of assorted foods.

The breakfast stretched on, and more students occasionally came in, with varying levels of tardiness. Neo sat down further away, but not as far as Weiss, of course. Ruby grabbed a glass of plain milk, and failed adorably at making small talk. Blake brought her book yet again, and looked content enough with just a cup of tea. Yang entered with a bolstering greeting, already sweating from a morning workout, and joined the blacksmith in eating more than humanly recommended. Coco sat next to Neo, commenting on her jacket while drinking a cup of black coffee. Emerald arrived shortly after that, and she munched on a piece of bread, but took the time to make the pot of sugar vanish, to the delight of some of the girls.

Jaune looked at the group, seeing how strangers, people who had never met each other, found it so easy to be comfortable with one another. They laughed, and talked, like normal teenagers having a good time. They seemed so normal, so... similar to his average self.

"Jaune! Wake up!"

"Huh?" He looked around, trying to understand why he'd been called.

"We're doing a headcount. Okay, I'm seeing twelve, plus Ren in the kitchen… that makes thirteen of us. Who are we missing?" Yang counted with her fingers, making sure her math wasn't off.

"Sun isn't here." Emerald pointed out the absent faunus.

"Yeah, I am." The class turned to the door and saw the monkey blonde boy walk in yawning. He approached the table, and grabbed a banana from the basket of fruit.

"Geez, can you be a little less stereotypical? Okay, so only one left."

"Penny." Jaune traded a glance with Pyrrha, and saw the worried look was also in her eyes. He pushed his chair back, and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Ruby asked, but his companion answered before he could.

"We'll just go check up on her real quick."

 _Please, please, please be okay._

Jaune started a short jog as soon as he left the cafeteria door. He knew he was probably overreacting, but the horrifying idea was deep rooted in his mind, and he couldn't afford to overlook it.

" _Anyone who commits murder will graduate…"_

Penny had been scared ever since coming into the gymnasium, much more so than any other of the students. She had almost refused to speak to anyone else, and none of them knew her talent yet. It was almost like she was fearing for her life even before they'd been told murder was on the menu. And now she was absent, and he didn't want to consider the possibility, but he could think of nothing else.

He pressed the button near the door, and waited along with Pyrrha.

Nothing.

He pressed it again, the anxiety building up again with even greater intensity than in the previous day.

Silence.

He kept pressing it, praying he was wrong. Only a night had passed, it was impossible for someone to have already committed a murder, right?

His heart nearly jumped from his chest when the door opened just slightly, and green eyes peeked through.

"…yes?"

"Oh thank Oum, Penny, you're okay. We were worried about you, you didn't show up for breakfast."

"…I wasn't feeling hungry." Her voiced was tired and helpless, the very same it had been the first time they met.

"You should still come out. It's not healthy to stay locked in there all the time." Pyrrha smiled at the girl, filling those words with confidence. The petite ginger seemed to consider it for a second, and then reluctantly opened the door and walked outside.

They guided her to the cafeteria, and were surprised to find the wide room nearly empty. Despite them being gone for no more than three or four minutes, all their classmates had left except for Nora, who was still sitting by the food, almost as if they had run away from him.

"Where is everyone?"

"They went exploring the school, to look for ways to escape." Nora grunted in between bites.

Penny shyly sat down, and poured herself a cup of water. It could hardly be called a meal, but Jaune was glad they had managed to bring her along, the rest would be taken one step at a time.

"And she stayed because she refuses to stop eating." Ren came in again from the kitchen, taking off his apron now that the breakfast seemed to be over.

"This muscles don't feed themselves! By the way, do you know how to make pancakes?"

"At this rate, you are going to bloat like a pig. How about a healthy vegetable blend instead?" He pointed to a jar of green goo that no one had touched.

"Answer the question, pretty boy."

He sighed. "Of course I can. I can make eight different flavors of pancakes."

"Then we have a lot to talk about." Nora jumped up and grabbed him with her voluptuous arms, pushing him back inside the kitchen, before walking in just behind him.

Left alone with the two only students he didn't know the talent of, Jaune looked around awkwardly, trying to come up with a topic of conversation. By now, he knew Pyrrha wasn't going to throw him an easy ball and start it herself. It was all part of his training.

"Hey, did either of you find a wardrobe filled with your clothes in your room?" They both nodded. "How did it get there? I don't remember putting it there, I had never even been to the rooms before."

"It must be the clothing you packed to come to Beacon, no? After all, we knew we would be staying here. Just not… for so long."

"Packed?" Suddenly, he did remember stuffing most of his clothes into a travel bag. It felt like an entire lifetime ago, back when he was preparing to move to the academy, full of dreams, and not imprisoned inside it. "Makes sense, I guess. It just looked a bit too tidy."

"Maybe the mastermind has a maid." Penny suggested timidly, still drinking her glass of water.

"Could be, the school seems really clean."

Nora returned from the kitchen, wielding a plate with a veritable tower of pancakes drenched in syrup, and sat down. Ren came behind her with a miserable look on his face, and picked a seat far away from the ginger blacksmith.

"Did we interrupt something?" She asked, but received no response, because immediately after she started working on the baked goods.

Their dwellings on the mastermind didn't evolve much further. Little by little, the others started arriving in pairs, which the chef explained had been chosen to prevent anyone from wandering the school alone. Yang brought Ruby in, and started trying to pin her on other people with the pretext of 'breaking her out of her shell'. Blake arrived with an annoyed look, chasing down Emerald for apparently making her reading material disappear. Sun and Velvet came inside soon after, both laughing. Neo and Yatsuhashi were next, sitting down without so much as a word. Finally, Weiss and Coco entered the room, simultaneously more than actually together.

"Everyone here?" Yatsu took the lead, speaking for the first time that day.

"Seems like it. So, what did you guys find out?" Jaune was feeling impatient. If they had found a way out, or any means to make one, he needed to know.

"There's a door for what looks like an infirmary near the gymnasium, but it's locked, and some stairs going up that are barred. Oh and also a giftshop of sorts, but it only has garbage." Coco explained the findings that her team had made, and then gestured for the next pair to speak up.

"The AV Room has computers and a big screen, so I guess we could watch movies or something, but the choices don't look too good. 'Monokuma's Birthing' sounds… pretty lame." Sun yelped when Velvet poked his side, and added. "Oh, and there were a bunch of photography and film supplies. WE also found a weird red door next to it, but it was also locked."

"The trash room has an incinerator, and other trash disposal machines. We didn't find anything else because _someone…_ " Emerald looked at Blake, who was starring daggers at her. "…decided that reading was much more interesting than finding a way out."

"We found a changing room that leads into a sauna, which is awesome! And Monokuma says the Sauna can only be used by either boys or girls at the same time, to avoid… what did he call it?" Yang reported, and Ruby completed with the missing information.

"Improper behavior."

"Wait, you spoke to him?"

"Yeah, he just kinda popped out of the ground when we were checking the place out."

Yatsuhashi went next, since his partner couldn't speak. "There's a laundry room, so we can have clean clothes, and a storage room. It's a mess of boxes, but it seems to contain various supplies, like tracksuits, canned food, and other things like that."

Finally, Ren spoke. "If that's all, then I guess I can mention my findings too. The kitchen has plenty of fresh food, as well as some frozen. It should last us a couple of weeks, so we're not starving anytime soon. And that's counting with some people who eat like bulls."

Nora giggled, petting her belly.

"So, no one found a way to escape?" He was slightly disappointed.

The glanced between each other, and shook their heads in denial. The atmosphere lost its warm and inviting appeal, the students all faced with the prospect that they were forced to live inside that school. It was less than ideal, but at least they were well stocked up on necessary supplies, and had some decent comforts available. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

"Then I guess it's time for lunch, huh?"

Ren stared in disbelief at the blacksmith. "Dear Oum, woman, really?"

Jaune laughed, and he wasn't alone. Just like that, the ruckus returned, and conversations sprouted back once more. The Lucky Student looked at his classmates, all doing their best to survive in that inhospitable situation, and felt hopeful. They were strong as a group, and nothing could destroy that, not even his worthlessness, not even the headmaster's threats.

Everything was going to be okay.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

 **Students Alive - 15**

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 **And now we get to the Free Time Events.**

 **For those who don't know, FTEs are a component of the DR games where the player can choose to spend time with other characters, in order to get to know them better. I wasn't sure how I wanted to proceed with these, so I decided: Why not let you decide?**

 **Poll is now closed.  
**

 **I really need to write shorter chapters. And for the one person who asked, this story takes a few cues from the game, but isn't exactly like it. That's all I can say without spoiling anything.**

 **As always, thank you for your support, and leave a review if you can. It helps.**


	3. Chapter 1-2

**I wanted to make a shorter chapter. Send help.**

 **Anyway, thanks so much to everyone who voted. Apparently I'm an idiot who doesn't understand how polls work, but it came together in the end. My plan was to have you pick 3 people, and then I'd pick a 4th, but we had 4 different characters with 2 votes each (besides Ruby who got 3). Also turns out the person I wanted was among the most voted, so now you'll never know which one it was.**

 **Writing this was a new experience. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to play it, so maybe next time it will be different. Don't forget to review ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 1.2 - The Calm Before the Despair**

 **DING DONG DING DONG**

 **"Gooood morning, everyone! It is now 8 am. Time to get up and face another day."**

Like clockwork, Jaune got up and went to the shower. Against all odds, living in that strange academy had already become somewhat normal, even if it was only their fourth day inside. Perhaps having a routine to follow was a way to appease their minds, and sharing meals as a class helped strengthen the bonds between them, as well as ensure no one had fallen victim of that twisted game yet. Not that he felt worried in the slightest - they were strong together, and Monokuma's threats couldn't reach them.

After getting dressed, he exited the room and made his way to the cafeteria, where he knew some of the others were already waiting. The breakfast table was filled with food as usual, just like it had been every morning until then. Even if the blond boy would have been content with whatever was in the school's industrial-sized fridge, as he guessed most other pupils would too, Lie Ren insisted on waking up every morning to prepare the juiciest and most healthy meals imaginable. Honestly, he didn't understand how or why the cook had it in himself to be so dedicated to the exercising of his talent, but he chalked it up as something an untalented person like him would never comprehend, and accepted the fact with gratefulness.

He sat down, greeting the ones who had arrived before him, and grabbed a piece of toast, spreading some strange paste on it, that he knew nothing of except that it was delicious.

"So, how was your bath yesterday?"

Since the sauna could not be shared by decree of the headmaster, the girls had taken the space for themselves on the previous day, in order to enjoy a lengthy and relaxing bath. He would never admit it, but the topic of peeking on them had come up in between the four male students, although the idea went no further than hypothetical discussion.

"It was real nice; you guys need to try it out. The steam eases the tension on your muscles, like mmmmmhhhm." Yang, who was there uncharacteristically early, moaned with pleasure just recalling those blissful memories.

"Are you talking about the sauna, or masturbation?" Nora did not let that one go unpunished, but instead of clarifying it the blonde made a coy smile, putting a chuckle in both of their mouths.

"I wish Penny had joined us, though." Pyrrha made a worried expression.

"She didn't go? I thought it was the girls' afternoon out."

"She said she would rather stay in her room. It's not like we could force her to come along..." Ruby sounded just as disappointed, a feeling he could relate to. Their strength depended on unity, and despite the considerable strides the ginger had made, she was still somewhat avoidant.

"Speaking of which, hey Penny!" Velvet welcomed the girl with the flash of her camera, and gestured energetically with the other hand.

The mystery girl waved timidly, and sat down next to Jaune, earning her a smile in return. Out of all the class members, she appeared the most comfortable near him and Pyrrha, since they had been to ones to show her the most concern and kindness. She poured herself a cup of water, and quietly observed the others from behind the protection of the glass. He wondered again why she never ate, but since she didn't appear to be sickly, he postponed the issue once more.

Neo walked in with Sun, and they appeared to be having some form of conversation despite the language barriers. They sat down and kept at it, to the bewilderment of the pupils present beforehand.

Coco was next to come in, taking a seat between Penny and Yatsu. "I love your dress, darling. It's so… rustic. Did you sew it yourself?"

Penny nodded vigorously with a gratified smile on her lips, and the two chatted about clothing. He and Pyrrha traded a proud glance, like two parents happy about the growth of their child.

Emerald was the last to show up.

"Hey, uh… I ran into Blake, she said she's not feeling so well, so she's not coming."

"I bet she's planning something." Weiss blurted out her usual slander, but no one paid her any mind.

"Should someone check up on her? Bring her some tea or something?"

"I'll go." Velvet volunteered, no doubt eager to snap some photos of the inside of someone else's room, maybe even capture some less than decent stuff.

The class bantered for a bit, lingering about for lack of a better activity in sight. After leaving, Jaune found himself staring at the empty walls of his room. Without actually having classes, he was benefiting from plenty of spare time, more than he knew what to do with. There was only so much entertainment to be found with one's self, and being left to his own thoughts was the last thing he wanted, so he left his room and before he knew it he was ringing the bell to Pyrrha's. It had been a heat of the moment decision, and he immediately regretted doing it, but running now would've been childish. He breathed in deeply, and embraced the consequences of his actions.

The door clicked, and the redheaded girl appeared through the wide opening. She had a golden t-shirt and red shorts, looking quite casual.

"Hello, Jaune. Did you need something?"

"No, I just had some free time, and I thought… you and I…" Ugh, why did it feel like he was asking her out? He hadn't prepared for this level of anxiety, stumbling over his words like the idiot he was.

"Well, I was just about to head over to the laundry room. Do you want to join me?" She smiled at his blatant incompetence. At least it was funny for one of them.

He nodded, and she disappeared for a few seconds, leaving him in that unknowingly state of whether or not he was supposed to go in. When he was still trying to make up his mind, she came out again with a blue plastic basket full of clothes, and closed the door behind her.

Together, they went inside the laundry, a long but not wide room with white tiled surfaces. The front wall was lined with washing and drying machines, a disciplined battalion staring at him, judging him for still not having learned how to operate them. This would be his opportunity to observe someone who did, maybe he'd learn what living with his family had failed to teach him. The back wall had ironing boards – those he knew how to work, but he rarely actually used them. Maybe he should, if he wanted to fit in with the elite he had been forced to live with, but those were considerations for another day. At the center was a table with some magazines, and chairs around it.

"You still haven't asked me what my talent is." Pyrrha Nikos dropped her basket on the floor, and began loading the clothes into the machines, separating them by color to make sure nothing was ruined, her back turned to him.

"I… think I'd rather not know." He couldn't see her face, but, somehow, he knew she was frowning at that confession.

"You're still doing it, aren't you? Insisting on the foolish idea that you are less than the rest of us." She finished the task, closing the machine, before pouring the detergent and pressing some buttons. Then she went up to the table, and sat down on top of it.

He picked up one of the magazines, and saw Weiss Schnee on the cover, being praised for her singing prowess. He felt her eyes on him, but he couldn't face them. There was nothing he could say, she knew the truth too well.

"Have you ever thought that maybe we don't want to have these talents?"

"What?"

"None of us were born that way. We were made to train, to practice, pushed on some path since we were young. It became such a part of who we are that we can no longer do anything else. In a way, I rather envy you. You can do whatever you want with your life… while I'm destined to something I didn't choose."

"I never thought of it that way."

"Don't get me wrong, I love what I do, but… it's all everyone ever sees in me. Pyrrha Nikos, the undefeated. Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be a normal high school girl." In that moment of seriousness, her face was a complete mystery, graced with a sad smile that didn't quite match the depth of her words. "Sorry, I didn't mean to drop all of this on you."

"No, it's okay. That actually makes me feel better… Does that mean I'm a bad person?" He sat down next to her, pondering on all he had just been told.

She giggled. "Of course not, Jaune. You're a great person."

"We've only met four days ago, you don't know me!" He faked indignation, making her laugh even harder. After seeing what she looked like when saddened, he didn't want to see her smile fade ever again.

The redhead leaned her head on his shoulder, and it took all his self-control not to yelp at the sudden contact. She was warm, a strange new presence so close to him, making his cheeks burn with sudden heat. Then, there was a ringing sound, and it was over.

Pyrrha jumped out of the seat, and kneeled in front of the machine, taking out her clothes back into the basket. Moving to the drying machine, she pushed them into it, and pressed the respective buttons, once again too fast for him to actually register anything – if he wanted to learn he would need to ask. She didn't return to the previous position, instead leaning on the rumbling machine.

"You still need to train your social skills, though. Don't think I forgot about that." She had an amused smirk, but the promise of more training made his blood curl.

"Who are you going to make me talk to this time?" He made his best puppy eyes, but it was not very effective.

"Hmm… How about Ruby? Yang's mentioned wanting to get her out of her shell, so maybe you two could practice together."

He sighed, thinking how much he'd rather just close himself in his room and play video games. Too bad Monokuma hadn't included those in their luxury stay.

"By the way, you might want to behave around her. You wouldn't want to anger the Ultimate Boxer." For some reason, he felt like the warning in her words wasn't merely about Yang's wrath, but he vowed never to discover why that was. He had enough drama is his life already.

The drying machine finished its job – the apparatus inside that room was probably top quality, considering how fast it worked, prompting the girl to pick everything up again. This time, she placed the basket on top of the table, and began getting each piece of clothing out, and folding it. He was observing her do it, struggling to come up with something to say, when he realized she was nonchalantly folding her undergarments in plain view. His face turned bright red, and he looked away embarrassedly.

He never figured out if she was purposefully torturing him or not, but after the work was done, they headed out. Just before her door she fumbled with opening the door, while he held the basket.

"Thanks, Jaune. We should do this again sometime." She giggled and went inside, leaving him frozen in the middle of the hall. The Lucky Student still didn't quite understand her motivations, but he felt like they had grown somewhat closer, and that was enough for him.

* * *

After lunch, the blond boy left the cafeteria in a hurry, trying to catch up to Ruby. He found her in the red hall with all the room doors, and mentally prepared himself for another round of socializing.

"Hey, Ruby!" He called out for her, and she stopped walking and turned her head. "Are you busy? I was wondering if you'd want to do something together."

She titled her head to the side, signaling confusion. "You mean like a date?"

"No, that's not what I..."

"My sister says I'm too young to date." Was she doing this on purpose? Had Pyrrha put her up to this just to make his life hell?

"I'm not asking y..."

"What are you waiting for? Come on!" She grabbed his hand and took off running. Jaune tried his best to keep up and not be left behind, but the girl was impressively quick on her feet.

He only half-registered what was happening, and it wasn't long before they crashed into a door. He fell on the floor, and she fell with him, letting go of his hand. His shoulder hit one of the tables, causing a spike of pain coursing through him. When he tried to get up, he saw a hand stretched out to him.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, fine." He accepted the help, noticing where the two of them had ended up. "Why are we at the AV Room?"

"I thought we could watch a movie. That's a thing people do on dates, right?"

"I thought your sister didn't let you go on dates..."

'Pfffffft, Yang's not the boss of me!" He had to remind himself that she was only fourteen, which would help explain the peculiar behavior.

"Never mind that, this is not a date."

"Awww, then you aren't going to lean over in the middle of the movie, whisper something romantic in my ear and then kiss me? I always wondered what all the fuss was about." She pouted, a little too cutely for his own good.

"What? Where did you even get all those ideas?"

She shrugged. "Books."

"Dear Oum, woman, what kind of books have you been reading?" His bewilderment towards the way she was acting knew no bounds.

"All kinds. My favorites are stories of knights fighting to save the world from an evil monster. They are just so thrilling and inspiring, I'd like to go on a world-changing mission one day."

He failed to come up with an answer, barely able to follow her reasoning.

"I'm boring you, aren't I? I should stop talking, I'm ruining our date."

 _What did I do to deserve this?_

"Ruby, settle down. You're not ruining anything and you're not boring me. Also, still not a date." He placed a hand on her shoulder, forcing her to stop pacing around.

"Sorry, I'm just... not very good with people."

"Neither am I, so don't worry. We can practice together." He smiled at her, wondering how on earth he had manage to get in a situation where had to act like the calm and collected adult. Luckily, she seemed to react well to his bluff, sporting a smile of her own.

"Why don't you start by telling me something about yourself?"

"Like what?"

"Like, I don't know, what did you do to get the title of Ultimate Sharpshooter?"

"I shot really well at long distances, not much to tell there.'

"But how did you get into it? Can't say it's a very common occupation." It was true, even amidst all the peculiar little roster of talents their class possessed, hers had to be one of the most unexpected.

"Our uncle used to take me to a shooting range when I was a kid." _Aren't you still a kid?_ "His work involved a lot of weapons so he went there a lot. I guess I just picked up a thing or two there."

"Huh..." He couldn't stop imagining a 10-year-old girl clumsily trying to hold a sniper rifle twice her size. Sounded like something out of a wacky anime.

"Plus, I see really well! Spotting through scopes and binoculars trains your eyes to see really far. It's pretty cool." Now she was just bragging, but he allowed her to. He had no doubt that if he possessed a talent he would want to brag about it as well.

"Now it's your turn to say something about yourself."

"Oh, I... Well, I have six sisters back home."

"Really? What's it like?"

"Loud and crowded. And braids, dear Oum, so many braids... My poor little hair." Ruby burst out laughing at his misery, but he didn't mind. Despite it all, he was having fun.

"I bet you'd look great with braids."

'Don't get any ideas, shorty."

"That's not fair, I'm normal size for my age! It's my fault you're all old as heck!"

As it turned out they were very good at teasing each other, so that went on for a while. Ruby was more mature than her age would indicate, but on the other hand Jaune could be quite childish, so in a way they were on equal standing.

The two browsed through the cinematic options available, but Monokuma's taste was questionable at best, so they ended up empty-handed. For lack of a better alternative, he asked her to show off her distance spotting skills, and was seriously impressed at the level of detail she could gather. He had a good time, and from what he could tell so did she, but as the time flew by, the moment to part ways inevitably came.

"Thanks, Jaune. This was a really fun not-date." She pecked him on the cheek, requiring to get on her tip toes for it, and then walked away.

He watched her go, weighing in the experience he had gained that afternoon. Ruby was certainly a... colorful character, but he guessed there was more to her than he had yet found out. Maybe another day he'd have a shot at knowing, but for now he was content. Content and tired.

Getting to his room, Jaune crashed on top of his bed, completely depleted of energy. It had been a long day, and he wanted to get some long-overdue rest. However, luck was not on the Lucky Student's side, and there were other plans in store for him.

 **DING DONG DING DONG**

 **"All Beacon students are called to Gymnasium immediately. Failure to show up will be met with severe punishment."**

Groaning in disappointment, he went to the bathroom and splashed some water in his face to keep himself awake. He left the room, and crossed the length of the school to the gym, noting how strange it was that he hadn't run into anyone. As soon as he walked in, the reason became apparent: everyone else was already there.

"Took you long enough, Pool Noodle." The students all looked at him, but it was Monokuma's voice that made itself heard. "Time to get this show on the road."

"What's going on?"

"The bear said he has an… incentive for us." Emerald's voice was hard pressed with anger, clearly wishing she was somewhere else.

"Silence, I'm speaking now! Ahem." The stuffed toy was standing on top of the podium, but this time he had his arms behind his back, in a seemingly military position. "I gave you kids everything. I gave you a roof, an endless supply of food and water, clean air, electricity, entertainment… I gave you all of that, and I only asked for one thing in return: for you to kill each other."

"Well, I guess it was not enough, was it? You spoiled brats can't follow instructions, you're the reason our world is falling to ruin! Your lazy butts can't even get this one thing done straight!"

No one talked. The animal's monologue was rather comical, but the way he delivered it was completely chilling. Something horrible was about to happen, and they could all feel it.

"But I am a gracious headmaster. I forgive you. And I bring you one final offering: **a motive**."

Jaune felt the dread building up inside him again. He had believed everything would be fine, but there it was again – the looming threat over their heads. He refused to abandon his conviction that one of them would be capable of murder, but if the bear was already impatient, it was only a matter of time until he started taking drastic measures.

"For that purpose, I have here something you will all want." He removed his hands from behind his back, revealing a handful of envelopes. "Letters from your families."

The class gasped, glancing between each other in an attempt to ensure they could trust the bear. It was clear in their eyes that they wanted to believe him, Jaune did too. They hadn't been inside the school for long, but the feeling of isolation was well buried in their minds.

"I hope you enjoy." With that said, he threw the envelopes in the air, and the group ran forward, pushing each other to try to get the prize made available to them. They picked up the letters from the ground, and hurriedly matched the names written on them with each student, before ripping open the seals and reading its contents. Jaune immediately recognized his mother's handwriting.

 _"My dear Jaune,_

 _I'm so proud of you for getting accepted into Beacon. You've been searching for yourself for so long, for what makes you unique, and I know you'll find it there. We are rooting for you, you are the future of-"_

The letter ended abruptly there, only a few lines right after it started. Below it, right after where it cut off, there was a picture of Monokuma smiling twistedly at him, and next to it seven words scribbled in red paint.

 ** _"Read the rest after the first murder."_**

"What is this bullshit?" Coco was the first to recover from the letter she had been given, evidently having gotten something just like his.

"That's your incentive to get some blood flowing! Don't you want to read the rest? Find out what happened to your families?"

"What do you mean what happened to them?"

"Upupupupupu, wouldn't you like to know… Well, you have a good solution: start stabbing." The monochrome bear laughed with the satisfaction of instilling in them the despair that had been dormant for the past few days.

"If you think we'll fall for this, you clearly have underestimated us." Yatsu spoke with such calmness that it was almost unsettling.

Jaune looked around to see the faces of his classmates. They were all shaken, but there was an aura of determination in the group, a will to bear through the headmaster's lies. Well, most of them; Weiss had somehow managed to get even paler, Penny looked like she had seen a ghost, and Neo was practically fuming with disgust and rage, ready to pounce at the first opening.

"If that's your choice, then fine! We'll see how long until one of you caves in. I can wait." Without expecting an answer, the toy animal jumped back, and, just like the first time, disappeared from sight.

 **DING DONG DING DONG**

 **"This is a School Announcement. It's 11 PM. Nighttime is now in effect. The cafeteria doors will be closing soon, so make sure you're not inside. Have a good night!"**

No one spoke a word. They went back to their bedrooms and did the best to forget what had just happened. Wallowing in it would bring them nothing but misery.

* * *

 **DING DONG DING DONG**

 **"Gooood morning, everyone! It is now 8 am. Time to get up and face another day."**

Jaune rolled out of bed, and dragged his numb body to the shower, where he could wash away the worries he had. His sleep had been convoluted, waking up every other hour, only to fall back asleep and find himself in the very same nightmare.

In it, he walked into his own room to find the dead body of one of his classmates, bloodied and maimed all over his bed, and when he noticed it there was a blackened knife in his hands. The first time it was Pyrrha, then Weiss, Ruby, Penny, Sun… Every time he would scream in panic, and the other students would come running, but as soon as they saw him with the knife they would restrain him and hand him over to Monokuma.

 _"As expected of a talentless idiot."_

 _"Only he could stoop so low as to kill someone else."_

He turned on the water as hot as he could, and forced himself underneath it, letting the burning sensation clear his mind. As soon as he began feeling better, he got dressed and left his room. Maybe some company could help him clear his head.

The cafeteria was silent, an odd tension in the air as they ate. He knew what was in all of their minds, he was trying his best to avoid the topic too: the letters. Every single one of them wished to know what the rest of the missives contained, but the price to pay was too high. It was hard to come up with conversation topics when it was all they could think of.

The breakfast did nothing to ease his mind, and Jaune begged the heavens for a distraction to get his mind off of all the drama. As he soon found out, fate was feeling playful that day.

Just as he was leaving the cafeteria, a bulky arm took hold of him in a death grip around his chest, and pulled him into the nearest corner. He felt his back being pressed against a wall, and when he opened his eyes he saw Yang's imposing figure casting a shadow over him.

"So, _Jaune_ , I hear you've been taking an interest in my sister." Her lilac irises gleamed with blood-lust, making the boy doubt his conviction that no one in that school would kill another student.

He swallowed dryly, failing to convene any semblance of a word.

"What are your intentions with her?"

"I... Nothing, I was just... Pyrrha said it would be a good idea to..."

"A THREESOME? IS THAT WHAT YOU'RE PLANNING WITH MY SWEET, INNOCENT LITTLE SISTER?"

"No, no, no, it's nothing like that! I..."

"Come with me."

She grabbed his left arm and dragged him all across the school, just like her sibling had except the usage of force was much greater. When they passed by Velvet, the only other student to roam the halls at that time, he mouthed a 'Help me', but the faunus girl laughed and snapped a picture of them. They passed through the weird red door, the AV Room and the Infirmary, and Jaune found himself realizing she was taking him to a secluded location in order to murder him. He tried to make peace with his impending demise, but a part of him kept wondering how quick and painless could a Boxer make it.

Yang slammed the door to the gymnasium open and practically threw him inside. She stared at him menacingly, and then exploded into laughter.

"You should have seen your face! Oh, Oum, I should do this more often." She was holding her sides, barely containing her boisterous chuckles.

"So, you're not going to kill me?"

"Nah, I'm just going to beat the crap out of you."

 _Oh, like that's any better._

"Here, put these on." She dug through a duffle bag that had already been there and threw him a pair of soft pillow-like objects with straps on them, which she instructed him to tie around his arms.

"What are these for?"

She put on boxing gloves, and gestured for him to raise his fists to face level. "You're gonna help me train." He squealed in panic, but mercy was unavailable. "Unless you want to have a serious talk about my sister, this is happening, pretty boy."

She threw her fist at the protections, and he felt the force even through the soft surface. She did it again, and kept repeating the motion, falling into a rhythm.

The Ultimate Lucky Student whimpered, considering seriously if he didn't prefer death over that.

"If it's hurting, you could just try to dodge my strikes. Hitting a live target is always more fun than a punching bag." He was sure she didn't mean it in such a horrifying way, but the phrasing she had picked was just short of homicidal.

Taking her advice, he attempted to evade the incoming punches, ducking and side-strafing to his best abilities, but it soon became apparent that the effort was in vain. She could easily foresee most of his movements, and would strike nonetheless. That was the power of the Ultimate Boxer, a power he was feeling through his entire aching body.

After a relentless assault that seemed to drag on forever, his captor finally decided to give him a break, and handed him a water bottle. He happily accepted the drink, refilling all the hydration he had lost through the exercise, even though his arms burned all the while he raised it to his mouth. For some inexplicable reason, getting hit felt much more exhausting than any physical effort he had done recently.

"So, what's your story?"

"What do you mean?" She was stretching her muscles, not ready to stop moving yet.

"How did you become a boxer? Seems like a strange activity for someone your age." He thought to comment on the fact that she was a girl, but that girl had just made him sore all over, so he reconsidered that possibility pretty fast.

"Well, me and Ruby... we were pretty much all on our own, you know. Her mom died when she was 4, and dad... was gone when she reached 7. Someone had to look out for her, take some punches so she wouldn't have to. After a while I just realized I could hit them back, and as it turned out, I was pretty good at it."

"I'm sorry... You're half-sisters? I didn't know that."

"That's where we get the different surnames, idiot. She's Rose, after her mother Summer Rose. I was named after my mom too, Yang Branwen, but I changed it to Xiao Long, because I didn't want to take the last name of someone who had abandoned me."

"Oh..." He didn't know what to say, there was just so much family tragedy in their lives. Coming from a numerous family that had suffered no losses in his lifetime, he had no idea what it would be like to be in her shoes. "Your father... what happened to him?"

"Joined the army. It was tough providing for us all by himself, and they offered a nice salary that could help us stay well fed and clothed. He died in a riot, no one ever found out where the bullet came from." The serious tone of the talk forced her to stop stretching. There were no tears in her eyes, he suspected there hadn0t been any for years, but instead a dry, quiet darkness had befallen her face.

"Ruby mentioned you two had an uncle... Didn't he stay with you?"

"Qrow, he was everything that stood between us and an orphanage. I guess he felt like he owed us for his sister, so he took us in. He wasn't around much, work called him away frequently, but he helped a lot, especially Ruby. He's practically a father to her."

Jaune failed to come up with a response, completely dumbfounded by her retelling of their past.

"And that's enough backstory for now, you're gonna have to work a lot harder if you want to get to the juicy stuff." She winked at him. "Anyway, time to put 'em up again, Jaune-y boy."

"What?"

She gloved her hands and raised them up high. "Your arms. You didn't think all of that would be free, right? You owe me another training session."

He whined inaudibly and did as he was told.

* * *

As he slowly walked away from the gymnasium, or rather, as fast as his strained muscles would allow him, he reflected on all he'd learned that day. In that room of torture, he had gained two things: a newfound respect for Yang Xiao Long, a self-made woman that had been given nothing in life, and all she had she had made for herself, a woman who knew pain and loss but managed to stay strong for those she cared about; and a pain that seeped through to his bones with such intensity that he doubted it would ever go away.

It was in a state of half-consciousness that he made it to the white hall that led to the cafeteria, but before he could reach his room for a well-deserved rest, he bumped into someone. He felt his body fall, the sudden impact throwing him off balance, but a firm hand kept him from reaching the floor.

"Are you okay?"

He groaned at Ren, too exhausted to give him a proper answer.

"What happened?"

"Yang." Their roles seemed to be reversed, leaving the cook to do the talking for him.

"I was going to the sauna right now, so why don't you join me?" The chef gently placed his hands on his shoulders and guided him through the curtain to the changing room.

Having never been there, Jaune vaguely registered the inside of the room. There were two large cabinets on the right wall filled with lockers, plenty of which were already in use, so that the students could store their clothes while they used the facilities, and a long bench in the middle. The left wall had two doors next to each other, one led to the sauna itself, and the other to a couple of cold showers for afterwards. There were also a couple of decorative plants, and a cork board with the remaining keys to the lockers.

He grabbed one, and proceeded to get undressed. Inside the locker was already a towel, surely put there to make the first visit easier. Using the white cloth to cover his shame, he opened the sauna door and walked in, where Ren was already tinkering with the temperature controls.

They both sat down, and waited for the automated mechanism to do its job, seeing the steam beginning to build up inside the closed space. After a while he was already sweating profusely, the heat around him teetering on the verge of unbearable, but somehow managing to relax his pain. He felt the pressure evaporating with the fumes and out of his muscles. Whatever that hot mist had, it was pure bliss after the morning he had experienced.

"You were right, I feel so much better now."

The asian boy did not respond, reverting back to his quiet self, but Jaune noticed a subtle relaxed smile on his lips.

"Hey, Ren? How are you doing?"

"Hmm?"

"You're always working yourself to the bone making food for us, and with Nora and all... I don't know, I feel like I would've gone insane by now."

Ren chuckled softly. "Actually, it kinda reminds me of home."

"How so?"

"Where I grew up, people were loud... just like her. They ate like pigs... just like her. In a way, she's kinda like my family."

"That's really sweet, man."

"My family tried to kill me once. We're not on the best of terms."

"Oh... What happened?"

"That's... a story for another day." He couldn't tell if he had become serious, or if that was simply his regular mysterious self. He had managed to get so little out of the cook, but it was already a victory in his eyes.

"You must really like cooking, huh?"

"It's a means to an end." Dear Oum, why was that man so hard to read?

"What do you mean?"

"It's more about nutrition than cooking. Like that vitamin blend I make every day and none of you ever drinks." There was a slight trace of bitterness in his speech, almost undetectable.

"In our defense, does it have to be so green?"

"Green is the color of nature, what's wrong with it?"

"It looks... unattractive." Understatement of the year. "Maybe dye it a different color, like, I don't know, red?"

Ren did not answer, making him wonder if he had hurt the boy's pride. He spoke so highly of that blend, so he probably had, an error he desperately tried to fix.

"I'll try it tomorrow at breakfast, I promise."

His sauna compatriot smirked with his eyes closed, and allowed the room to fall into a comfortable silence. He wasn't going to be able to get any more information out of the chef, which was reasonable considering they had just met a few days ago. In fact, most of the students seemed strangely willing to talk about themselves with him, making building up connections that much easier. Maybe they were all really trusting, or maybe he had just gotten lucky with whom he spent time with.

 _Heh, maybe I am the Lucky Student after all._ He almost cackled out loud at how absurd the idea was.

He took off from the sauna feeling much better, albeit still quite exhausted. Ren had proved to be interesting company, and he hoped to get another chance at cracking his mystery, but for now there was only one place he desired to be: his own bed.

He unlocked the door to his room, and, still wearing only a towel, threw himself on the soft and inviting mattress. The night announcement had yet to play, but by the time it did he was already deep in slumber. It had been a long but fulfilling day, and he had managed to completely get his mind off of the mastermind's incentive.

A lapse of the mind he'd soon come to regret.

* * *

 **DING DONG DING DONG**

 **"Gooood morning, everyone! It is now 8 am. Time to get up and face another day."**

He was woken up by the announcement, and jumped out of the bed energetically. His body felt reinvigorated, ready for another battle of endurance. He quickly pondered on whom he'd like to spend some time with that day. Maybe Pyrrha, it had been a whole since they had talked alone, and she was sure to be proud of how much time he had spent fraternizing with the other students. Well, it was a decision to be made after breakfast, and he was starving, only just now realizing he had missed dinner.

He got dressed in a hurry, skipping the bath since he'd spent the previous afternoon in a nigh-permanent bath, and opened the door.

The moment he stepped outside, he heard a panicked scream.

He instinctively sprinted to the cafeteria, the apparent source of the sound, and saw Ren and Nora by the entrance, their faces twisted with dread. Pushing past them, Jaune ran inside.

What he found inside would be engraved into his mind for the rest of his life, as would the sound that came with it.

 **DING DONG DING DONG**

 **"A body has been discovered…"**

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

 **Students Alive - 14**


	4. Chapter 1-3

**Chapter 1.3 - Pieces of the Despair Puzzle**

 **DING DONG DING DONG**

 **"A body has been discovered. Get your detectives hats out, because we'll be holding a trial soon!"**

Jaune stared in disbelief at the scene before, ignoring the message that had just been broadcasted through the monitor inside the cafeteria. It couldn't be real. It had to be a sick prank pulled by the monochrome bear.

Near the long table where the class usually had their meals was a chair, and Penny was sitting on it, limp and lifeless. Her head was bowing down like she was sleeping, and her right arm was hanging over the chair, stuck together to her body by only a couple of metallic cables. There was liquid on the ground near her, a small pool of shiny brown just below her nearly severed limb.

He took a few steps back, hitting the wall with his back. He struggled in vain to take his eyes off of the dreaded sight, hardly even able to register all that was laid out before his eyes, but his muscles failed to respond to his command.

 _Why is this happening? What... What did we do wrong? She was starting to open up, to get comfortable with being around others..._

The boy did not notice the other students, slowly making their way to the cafeteria and too being assaulted by that most horrible of visions. He was frozen, shock isolating his body and mind from the rest of the world. He wanted to scream, but his throat was coarse and dry. He wanted to run away, but his legs were weak, barely keeping him standing.

At some point, he felt someone push him away from the site of the murder, and lead him outside, to the corridor. He followed them sheepishly, so out of it that he couldn't find the energy to perceive who it was. When he came to, he was in the white well-lit hall, and the door to his left was closed. He looked around and saw the others.

Ruby Rose was kneeling on the floor, crying in her sister's arms, who herself had a confused expression in her lilac eyes, as if she had yet to come to terms with what she had seen. Nora was sitting on the corner at the other side of the door, hugging her knees, which was definitely the most vulnerable anyone had seen her. Ren was standing close by, a darkness in his eyes accompanying his usual silent demeanor. Yatsu, Neo and Weiss were all also standing quietly, though isolated from each other. Velvet was grabbing Blake's arm, looking at her worriedly. The cat faunus had the strangest reaction of them all: instead of sad or frightened, she was angry - just as angry as the first time Jaune had seen her.

"Why... why are we out here?" He asked to no one in particular, and found that his voice was tired and hardly audible. Nevertheless, it was enough to get the attention he required. Ren looked up at him, but allowed someone else answer the question.

"Monokuma told us to gather out here." The boy jumped in surprise, hearing the sound come from right next to him. Apparently, Pyrrha had been right there and he hadn't even realized it. "I guess he has something to say."

She seemed shaken, but still firm. He guessed she was fighting with all her might to bear through it. That was the strength of an Ultimate, the power to keep moving forward. They didn't know the dead girl that well, but she was a part of the group, of their joined struggle to survive through the trails that academy threw at them. And that made her a loss beyond measure.

"Hey, guys! Whoa, did something happen?" Sun came out from his room, as energetic as he always was, but the sight of their sullen faces clued him in.

No one answered, no one wanted to say it out loud, to admit that they had lost one of them, that their faith, their hope had been defeated.

The monkey faunus became serious, maybe a part of him had already realized what had happened. "Where."

Jaune pointed at the closed cafeteria door, and watched him march there with determination. Just as he walked in, Emerald peered through the red hall and joined the rest of the class, and though she didn't question what was happening, she probably had an idea - after all, reading the mood of a room was an essential skill for any magician. Just a couple of seconds later, Sun burst out of the cafeteria, completely infuriated.

"What the fuck is that?"

No one answered, because no one understood what he meant.

"Because that right there..." He pointed at the door he had just come out of. "... that's not Penny! It has wires and cables, that thing is a machine!"

He recalled seeing it, seeing the inner metallic parts of the corpse, but amidst the shock of seeing the dead girl, it has simply slipped his mind. Now that he could think once more, he found that he had no answers for Sun's inquiry, although neither of them had to wait long.

"Upupupu. You all heard the corpse discovery announcement, did you not? It only plays when three or more people have found a body, which means someone really died." Monokuma walked casually in the middle of them, with a spring on his step as if he was delighted to be there.

"You're lying, Penny is not a machine!"

"Oh, but I can't make the big plot twist without everyone here! Where is she?" Like clockwork, Coco came out of her room, and, with all eyes on her, she walked up to the white corridor.

"Ah, finally everyone is here! Now we can proceed. The victim of this case is, indeed, Penny Polendina, that is most certainly her body you found inside. But why is it full of metal, you ask? That's simple: she was the Ultimate Android!"

"What?" The expression of astonishment that swept through the floor was shared by every single one of the students, even if not all of them voiced it.

"Oh, did she never tell you? Ms. Polendina was a robot, built in a high-tech laboratory. She must have not trusted you enough to say, which seems smart considering **one of you killed her**."

"You're full of shit, Monokuma. You killed her, and now you're trying to pin this on us." Yang roared with defiance, still holding her sister in her arms.

"You don't believe me? Well, I guess we'll see who's right at the Class Trial."

"The what now?" Emerald wondered out loud.

"The Class Trial, my favorite part! Well, except for the murder itself, of course. Basically, I will give you some time to investigate the crime, gather some clues and the like, and then when everything is ready, we'll hold a trial where you need to find who the killer is. If you guess correctly, they get executed in a spectacular fashion, but if you fail, I'll butcher everyone else and the blackened gets to graduate and go free. Upupupupu isn't this exciting?"

Exciting wasn't the word Jaune would choose. Terrifying, sadistic, disgusting - any of those words seemed to be far more fitting.

"That's preposterous, we're not detectives! How are we supposed to figure out who did it?"

"You didn't think it would be so easy, that you just had to kill someone, right? It was in the rules, after all."

 _"...provided they're not discovered by their classmates."_ Monokuma wasn't lying, it had been there all along, right beneath their noses. Still, it seemed rather unfair to have rules only be properly explained after the deed had been done, but since that change of plans benefited everyone but the killer, no one wanted to be the one to complain.

"Well, that's all I had to say. Have fun, kiddos!" Before anyone could stop him, the bear took off sprinting into the distance, disappearing not long after.

The students glanced between themselves, as if wordlessly asking one another what they should do next. Jaune was sure the mascot had done it, that it was just another one of his ploys, trying to get them to turn on each other. None of them would ever fall for such an empty promise as the motive he had given them, after all they were Ultimates, the best of the best, and people of talent as great would never fall so low, but he could already see the doubt in their eyes. They believed, or wanted to believe, that one amongst them was capable of taking a life, and that very same conclusion led them to think the others couldn't be trusted. It was absurd, and he stood firm in his belief that it was a lie, so in that moment of darkness, the blond boy decided to take the lead. Jaune Arc, the worthless, the talentless, the average boy who wouldn't have the skill necessary to kill someone even if he wanted to, would show them once again what it meant to be Ultimate.

"Okay, if we're going to figure this out, we need a plan of action. We probably don't have much time." He steeled his voice to hide away the hesitation and the shock he still felt from the revelations. Monokuma had killed Penny, and she needed to be avenged.

"Why bother? We already have a culprit." The ivory-haired singer looked directly at him while she spoke.

Blake's voice was heard next, rehashing the old conflict. "Let me guess, you mean me."

"Of course, I mean you!" She turned the class, preparing a speech. "Her talent is being a terrorist, a killer! Who else would commit such a heinous cr-"

"Weiss, shut up." Her ice-blue eyes flared indignant at him, already opening her mouth to lash out, but he gave her no opening. Strategy was much more important than his personal feelings at the moment, and that meant saying things he wish he hadn't. "First of all, we need someone to guard the… body."

Yang cracked her knuckles menacingly, and smirked. "Leave it to me, I'll guard it real good!"

"What if she's the killer? Wouldn't that leave her alone with the evidence?"

"Then I'll join too. Does that soothe your worries?" Yatsuhashi stepped forward, addressing Weiss' concerns, to which the girl nodded.

"Then that's settled... Next, we should make pairs for searching for clues, so no one has to wander around alone."

"I'd like to investigate the cafeteria. After all, it's where she is." Blake was the only one with a specific wish, so no one objected.

"Anyone want to go with Blake?"

Inspecting the corpse was far less than a desirable activity, so he understood the hesitation in the room. Luckily, Ruby raised her hand. "Great. Sun, can you check her room? Just in case there are any..."

"Locks, you got it. Neo, want to come along? Since you can reach difficult places?" The mute shrugged, which they took as a yes.

"Should we check the trash room too, in case someone tried to use it?"

"Smart thinking, Nora. Who wants to team up with her?"

"I don't mind." Velvet snapped a picture of the group before walking over to her new partner.

"Hmm okay. All that's left is checking the rest of this hall and the area near the gym."

Coco took the gym, and Ren followed suit, leaving the former to Weiss and Emerald.

"What about you and Pyrrha?"

"We have a bear to question."

The groups went their separate ways, leaving only him and the redhead behind. He slumped his shoulders, feeling the pressure exit his body, and sighed deeply. They were coordinated and working together, half the fight was already done. Now came the harder part.

"You did really well, Jaune. I'm impressed." Pyrrha squeezed his shoulder, offering some reassurance.

Jaune smiled at her, grateful for the support. He wasn't too happy about ordering the group around, but it was for a greater good: defeating that horrid game and surviving.

Turning to the closest security camera, he shouted at it. "Hey, Monokuma! Get over here!"

"Want something, luck man?" The voice came from behind them, startling the boy a bit. He turned and looked at the stuffed animal.

"Yes, you said you'd execute the killer if we guess correctly. Does that include you?"

"Of course, I may be a bad boy, but even I have my honor. Bear's promise. Just don't forget, if you guess wrong you're putting everyone's lives on the line. Upupupupu."

Jaune didn't allow himself to be threatened by its sick humor. If he succeeded in proving the headmaster was the one behind the murder, he could put an end to that farce and have them all go home. It wouldn't be easy, but he was sure it could be done, it was their best chance at not only victory, but justice for the fallen.

"Oh, I nearly forgot. I updated your scrolls with a little prize. You might wanna check it out, and tell the others as well." The bear was evidently delighted by that whole situation.

"You won't get away with this. We will stop you." Pyrrha had fire in her green eyes, staring down at the mascot with murderous intent.

"I'm not the one you should be after, there's a murderer on the loose. But sure, I'll go now. I know when I'm not wanted." The twisted plushy turned his back on them and took off very slowly, almost like he was teasing them with his slow-motion escape.

"When are you ever wanted?" The girl mumbled under her breath, but Jaune was still able to make out the words. He wondered where all that spite had come from, so unlike the amicable and apologetic person he had grown accustomed to seeing, but within a fraction of a second she returned to her regular self.

The boy took the tablet from his pocket, and saw a little blinking notification, which when pressed on displayed the words **Monokuma File Nº1**. He scrolled down and read its contents.

" _The Victim was Penny Polendina, the Ultimate Android._

 _Her body was found inside the cafeteria around 8:03 am._

 _Cause of death seems to be malfunctioning circuitry._

 _Besides that, some damage was dealt to her right arm."_

He looked at the screen mortified, and then glanced up to Pyrrha who had also just examined the same thing.

 _I can't believe she's really dead._

"We should go check on the others, see what they found." The redhead broke him out of his grief, with a reminder that they were on borrowed time.

Moving out of the white corridor, the two of them walked towards the cafeteria, and saw Sun and Neo leaving it with the deceased's Scroll to access her room. Inside, Yatsuhashi and Yang were standing by the door, both imposing muscled figures, whereas the other pair was investigating Penny up close

The Ultimate Lucky Student looked once more at the lifeless girl, trying to ignore the spike tearing through his heart. Despite kidnapping, imprisoning, and attempt to have them kill each other, this was the cruelest thing this place had done to them yet - robbing them of the chance to mourn.

His taller companion moved ahead, filling in for his broken hope, and approached Blake, who had one knee on the ground, and was lightly touching the arm that had been torn.

"Have you found out anything yet?" Blake moved her head in acknowledgment of their presence, but did not face away from the body.

"Well, Monokuma wasn't lying, she really was a robot."

"Android." On the other side, Ruby corrected her dryly. The youngster seemed to be faring much better now, sorrow replaced by focus. He looked at her, silently asking the difference, and she elaborated. "Robots are completely synthetic, Androids have some organic stuff too, to make them more... human."

"So, she really was made in a laboratory? Why didn't she say anything?"

"Maybe she was programmed not to be able to. We have no way of telling now, her circuitry is completely burnt up."

"That's the cause of death, right? The Monokuma File says the same thing." Both Blake and Ruby perked up their ears at that last sentence, reminding him that he hadn't yet told them about the autopsy report. He explained to them how to access it, and waited a minute before continuing. "What could have provoked that?"

"A really strong electrical current, an overheat of the systems, there are plenty of things that could've done it."

Jaune made a mental note of the **Fried Circuits** , and changed subject. "What about the arm?"

The **Ripped Arm** was missing a sleeve, and metallic cabling could be seen linking the shoulder to the rest of it. Blake filled him in.

"It looks like it was torn by being pulled on repeatedly, dislocating her shoulder and tearing through the skin."

"Could that be the way someone managed to overload her circuitry?" Pyrrha began putting the pieces of the puzzle together, see if they fit.

"Maybe?" Neither of the investigating girls seemed too sure of that answer. Ruby pointed to the **Glass Cup** lying on the floor next to Penny's left arm. "It looks like she threw water inside the wound, maybe that could mess with the machinery."

"But she couldn't have ripped her arm out like that by herself, she would've needed help."

"Wait, are you saying she killed herself?"

"I mean, she was locked in here, right? The door to the cafeteria is shut down during nighttime, so no one else could be inside… Something doesn't add up, though, and I don't know what we're missing."

He made another note of the new information, as well as the **Puddle of Oil Mixed with Water** on the ground. "Anything else?"

"Her hair looks strange." The redhead was the one to point out, the dead girl seemed to have a somewhat **Disheveled Hair**. Her pink bow was in place, but her usual hairdo seemed sloppier, like it had been done in a rush, which was an uncommon occurrence. Time was the most abundant resource inside that academy. None of the four made a comment, the meaning of it all still eluding them.

Jaune prepared to leave, thinking the dealings with the body were done for, when Blake called out for him.

"One last thing." She lowered Penny's right sock until her ankle, revealing a **Cut on the Leg** , located a little further below the knee. The skin was slightly parted above the cut, showing a few millimeters of machinery inside. "It's a straight incision, consistent with a knife blade."

He felt impressed by her expertise, wondering where she had learned to discern all of that, but then he remembered her talent. A terrorist was probably familiar with all sorts of bruises and blemishes.

"Okay, thanks. If you find anything else let us know." The two girls nodded, and the boy turned around, but Pyrrha's voice interrupted him.

"Are you okay?"

Ruby nodded, her silver eyes filled with regret once again, but her partner barely reacted. "We'll find who did this, that's all that matters."

The two of them were leaving the room, but just as he reached for the door, he heard a voice calling out from behind.

"Hey, what's that?"

Jaune looked back confused, watching the short-haired girl approach. She gently pushed him out of the way and crouched down near the door, picking up a rectangle of wood, twice the size of her hand, from the floor.

"It kinda looks like a **Piece of a Chair** , doesn't it?" She ran up to the closest seat and compared it, gesturing affirmatively.

"Could she have used that to damage her arm?"

Ruby looked up at him with a sorrowful look. "I mean, yeah but… why would she?"

To that he had no answer.

Finished with the cafeteria, they moved on back to the hall, upon which they heard a discussion coming from the baths. Following the sounds, they pushed the curtain open and walked in. There a huge **Mess in the Dressing Room,** one of the locker cabinets was fallen over face down on top of the bench, and large, indistinct pile of clothes had poured out of the little open doors. There were swimsuits of various colors and shapes, among other articles, and Emerald was squatting down near them.

"I was just taking my stuff!"

"That's evidence, you can't just steal it when it pleases you!" Weiss was standing next to the base of the cabinet, noticing straight away when they entered. "Tell her, Pyrrha!"

Pyrrha took to easing the tensions inside the room, ensuring the clues weren't tampered with, and in the process leaving him free to peek around.

He circled past the others and looked at the fallen furniture. Besides its position, there was something else odd about it: its location. Instead of standing by the other one on the right-side wall, it was on the opposite side, it's feet right next to the sauna door, and facing away from it. Crouching down to see more clearly, **Scratches on the Floor** became apparent, tracking the movement it had taken from its original position. He had no way of telling when it had been done, but if his memory was to be trusted, it had been very recently.

 _So, someone moved the cabinet from one side of the room to the other, and then pushed it down? I wonder if this is related to the murder at all..._

A poke on his shoulder brought him back to the world around him, and he saw Emerald standing next to him. "You're wondering too, right? Why the lockets are where they are?"

He nodded. "And why is everything on the floor? I thought they were supposed to be, you know, locked."

"If the cabinet was pushed down, maybe the impact slammed the doors open. Those locks are weak, they wouldn't be hard to break."

He lifted his gaze towards the sauna door. Everything seemed to point to the cabinet being relocated right in front of it, blocking it from access. The green-haired girl followed his line of sight.

"Hey, is that..." She ran up to the aforementioned entrance, and brought her hand to the doorknob. "It's broken."

Jaune followed her inside the sauna room, and they tested the **Broken Doorknob** on the other side. It seemed the locking mechanism had been smashed off its hinges, and the door could no long be held shut.

"Someone really wanted to get in, huh?"

"Or out."

The Lucky Student entered the sauna, and inspected the space around, but failed to find any clues inside. Emerald, however, was more attentive.

"Look at this." He followed the direction of her finger, and saw a white **Strip of Cloth** stuck underneath the door. She retrieved it, and brought it close to her face. "Looks like one of the towels."

"But where's the rest?" She shrugged, and moved on.

Back in the dressing room they found Weiss and Velvet, the latter taking photos of the assorted pile of clothes on the floor.

"What are you doing?"

"I thought this might be a big clue, so we asked Velvet to photograph it, so we can have a reference later."

"You think this is related to the murder?" He was surprised to be spoken to directly by the Ultimate Singer. Maybe she was finally coming around.

"Better safe than sorry."

"And where did Pyrrha go?" Emerald asked the very same thing he was wondering.

"She's with Nora, we didn't want to leave anyone alone. Want to go there now? I'm pretty much done here." Velvet put the camera down, and guided the boy back to the hall, but to his surprise they moved to the laundry room.

"You didn't find anything in the Trash Room?"

"No. The incinerator had been used recently, but we couldn't tell anything else, not even if it has anything to do with the case."

Inside the Laundry they were met by Nora and Pyrrha giggling with one another. As soon as they entered, the two girls abruptly stopped laughing, almost suspiciously like they were talking about him, but he paid it no mind. He knew he wasn't relevant enough to warrant gossip.

"So, what do you have?"

"That." Nora pointed at a large **Bundle of Towels** , all randomly tangled together. The white blob looked spotless, but still not completely dry.

He raised his brow inquisitively.

"One of the washing machines was full, and that was inside." Pyrrha filled him in, since she had already gotten the information from the lively ginger.

"Is that… supposed to be a clue?" He was confused as to what they meant.

"Well, if they were washed so recently, they must've been put there during the night, right? That means whoever did it was awake when Penny died."

"Sure, but if Penny was locked inside the cafeteria, is there any relation between the two events?"

"Dunno, but look!" Nora interrupted, pushing a towel in front of his face. "One of them is missing a bit."

His eyes widened. "We found a piece of towel in the sauna. That must be the rest of it."

"See, we weren't useless after all!"

He wasn't sure how it all fit together, but he knew that somehow it was important. Thanking them, he and his companion moved on. Next would be Sun and Neo, left in charge of investigating Penny's room. He pressed the button near the entrance, receiving a satisfying buzzing sound in return, and a few seconds later Sun showed up from inside.

"What's up?"

"Just checking if you found anything useful."

"Oh, alright. Come in." The monkey faunus acted like he was in his own domain, opening the door so they could enter.

Penny's room looked just like his own, the blue and pink jarring colors, the very same furniture he had. There wasn't a large charging station full of futuristic gadgets and blinking lights, just a plain old bed. There weren't any metallic or electronic interfaces, nothing that would signal she was different from the rest of them. It simply looked like any other room, a room a human would have.

Jaune ignored the pain inside his chest, and focused in business instead. "Ok, what did you find?"

Neo lifted a paper that read. "Not much."

"Oh, you got a writing pad. That should make communication easier." She flipped a page, and scribbled quickly.

"It wouldn't be hard if any of you assholes knew ASL." He felt her annoyed eyes burn into his soul, judging him.

"Penny gave us the idea." Sun interrupted their conversation, which was fortunate because he was desperate for a way out of it. "She used her writing pad quite a bit. It's almost kinda like a **Journal**."

The monkey faunus pointed to a pile of papers on top of the bedside table, and Pyrrha picked it up so they could read it together. It wasn't so much a notepad, as a group of notepad pages stacked together, which was strange considering the rest of the notepad was still on the table, waiting to be written on.

 _"Today I woke up in a strange school. I'm scared, this is so different from papa's laboratory. I miss him so much._

 _There's a stuffed bear here, but he's not cute at all. He said he wanted us to kill each other. I don't know the other students, but I met a redheaded girl and a blond boy, and they were nice to me. I hope nothing happens to them."_

They traded glances, knowing they were the ones mentioned in the journal entry, but continued forward.

 _"I was going to stay in my room today, but Jaune and Pyrrha because they were worried. I didn't want to worry them, so I went. The other students seem friendly, but I've never been around so many people before. It used to be just me and papa. He protected me from the bad man. I miss him."_

 _"This time I went to breakfast by myself, and Pyrrha seemed happy about it. The girls tried to get me to go the sauna with them, but I refused. I'm afraid it might not be safe, and by myself I don't have anyone to do repairs."_

 _"Ren asked me why I never eat with them. I think he's hurt than I still haven't tried his food. I wish I could tell them what I am, but it goes against my basic programming. Maybe I could try drinking some of his green juice, it's just a liquid after all, and I can handle water. Perhaps that would make him happy."_

 _"Jaune smiled at me when I got to breakfast today. Oh, and Velvet too. She seems nice as well. Maybe I don't have to be scared, everyone has been so friendly so far. I wish papa was here."_

And that was the last entry they had. He felt speechless, the loss they had suffered only deepened now that they had a closer look at how she had been feeling since waking up inside the school with the rest of them. Penny was a scared girl let loose in a world she knew little about. She did not deserve what had happened to her. She deserved better.

He felt anger building within him. Monokuma had done this to them, he had killer her. The damned bear was going to pay.

Pyrrha placed the pieces of paper back down, and squeezed his arm. He knew she was thinking the same thing, and took comfort in having her support. Whatever destiny was behind the fateful meeting between them on the first day, he was certain he did not deserve it.

"D…" He tried to speak, but his throat clenched itself. The redhead covered for him.

"Did you find anything else?"

"Well, there's the trash can…" Sun showed them the inside of the trashcan, which was nearly empty save for a couple of **Bits of Torn Paper**.

As soon as they grabbed a handful, it became clear that the pieces were the destroyed remainders of the letter she had gotten from Monokuma two nights prior, as evidenced by the large Monokuma picture and the red bloodied letters at the bottom. Laying down the scraps on the table, they proceeded to put the puzzle together.

 _"To: Prototype P.E. ._

 _General Ironwood would like to offer his congratulations in being enrolled into Beacon. We have the utmost faith in your capabilities, and expect you to excel at all the trials in the future. Remember that any failure will be-"_

"Somehow, I don't think that's from her father." He had to agree with her, it was so cold and impersonal, almost threatening towards the deceased girl. What kind of people had she been involved with?

Heavy in thought, the boy turned away from the letter and moved in the direction of the door, but something stopped him dead in his tracks.

"AH, NEO, WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?"

The mute was casually playing with a knife, twisting and turning it on her slender fingers. Upon being questioned, she gestured towards the wardrobe.

"Penny had a knife in her closet? Why?"

"You think she was planning something?" Sun's question was met with nothing but a disapproving glare. The Ultimate Android was a victim. She had been a sweet girl, one who would've never wished harm upon others. The knife was there for some other reason, that much he knew for sure.

The room finished with, Ren and Coco were the only pair left, so Jaune and Pyrrha took off in the direction of the gymnasium. However, after crossing the long corridors, they ended up finding them inside the AV Room.

"Hey Ren, was the gym clear?" The cook nodded. It quickly became clear that they had found nothing tangible.

Grabbing the other boy's arm, he took him outside and asked in a low voice. "Remember when we were in the sauna yesterday? Where were the cabinets at?"

"They were standing against the wall across from the doors, why?"

"Just checking if I wasn't remembering wrong. That means whatever happened there was after we left. Oh, and by the way, at what time did you leave the cafeteria?"

"It was around 9pm, I think. Why, am I suspicious?"

"No, no, don't worry. Just trying to make a timeline of when this whole thing went down." He took mental note of **Ren's Testimony** , but before he could further address the chef's inquiries, a familiar sound was heard from the nearest monitor.

 **DING DONG DING DONG**

 **"Time's up. All students are to gather near the red door on the first floor immediately. And make it quick, I'm getting bored here."**

Reluctantly, they took off with the two girls that were inside the AV Room, quickly reaching the red door. It seemed to be staring menacingly at him, threatening to swallow him whole, so he tried his best to avoid looking at it, instead counting the students that were gradually arriving.

When the fourteen of them were gathered there, no one speaking a word, the door opened by itself, revealing a small square room with a metallic gate on the other side. The class walked inside, and the red door closed behind them, giving way to the gate like a decompression room underneath the sea.

The gate clanked open, and behind it they saw an elevator waiting for them. One by one, all the pupils moved to that new contraption, and it took off, descending deeper and deeper into the bowels of the earth.

They were still silent, both scared and deep in thought about all the information they had gathered. Jaune was certain the answers lied somewhere among the clues, but he couldn't quite piece it all together yet. He knew there would be no margin for error, but together with all the amazing talented people standing beside him, they would uncover the truth and prevail over the headmaster's schemes.

And so, the door opened to the first Class Trial.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

 **Students Alive - 14**

* * *

 **I made a handy map of the room area of the school with the placement of the clues, but this site doesn't let me add links. The address is below, just replace all - with periods.**

 **i-imgur-com/i5CbRK7-png  
**

 **The trial chapter is already pretty much complete, I couldn't upload this one until I was sure the case was solid, but I think I'll still wait a few days for dramatic effect. This way you can also have some time to figure it out for yourselves. As always, please review with feedback so that I can improve on further cases.**


	5. Chapter 1-4

**I was supposed to post this two days ago, but I forgot the file in my work computer, which I couldn't access during the weekend. Sorry.**

 **As you'll soon notice, the Trial is written in a very different style. I thought it made sense to do it this way, considering it's more dialogue-focused and quickfire.  
**

* * *

 **Chapter 1.4 - Take Despair for a Trial Run**

The elevator clicked and stopped moving. After a slow pause for suspense, the doors opened, allowing the students inside some kind of vault.

The room had been built in a round shape, walls covered in red curtains filling the space between each of the support pillars. There was a throne across from where they entered, a tall red and golden chair that looked very comfortable, and at the center was a circular blood-colored stage. Around the middle point of said stage were sixteen stands, little podiums arranged so that each of them could be positioned in front of them and still see everyone else.

"Welcome to the courtroom!" Monokuma jumped in from behind the throne, making one of the overly dramatic entrances he seemed to enjoy so much. "Don't worry, there are no shady human experiments happening here, especially not ones involving transferring and merging souls. It's perfectly safe."

"Cut the crap and tell us why we're here." Yang wasn't feeling patient, none of them were.

"But I already told you. We're holding the Class Trial. Now, if you can all please step into the stand that has your name written on it."

They all shuffled to the stage and checked the writing on it, slowly filling each one of the stands. Only one remained empty, the one right in front of Monokuma's throne.

"Right, now we can begin."

* * *

 **CLASS TRIAL IS NOW IN SESSION**

 **Monokuma:** "Welcome to the Class Trial for Miss Penny Polendina."

 **Monokuma:** "Let's start with an explanation of how the Class Trial works. You will be given time to discuss the evidence you all gathered, and at the end you will have to vote for who the murderer is. If you vote correctly, I'll execute the culprit, but if you're wrong I'll kill everyone except the culprit. So pick carefully, kiddos!"

 **Jaune:** "Go to hell, Monokuma, we already know you're the one who did it!"

 **Monokuma:** "Is that your final answer?"

 **Blake:** "Calm down, Jaune. Losing your head will only help the killer." The cat faunus was occupying the stand next to his, her voice calm and collected.

 **Ruby:** "So, we have to figure out who did it, huh?"

 **Emerald:** "Guess so. Does our great leader have any guidance to give is this time?"

Even with all eyes on him, it took a few seconds for Jaune to realize that he was the one they meant.

 **Jaune:** "Wait, why me?"

 **Yang:** "You were taking charge of the investigation earlier."

 **Jaune:** "I was just..." His black-haired neighbor interrupted his embarrassed babble.

 **Blake:** "We should start by determining cause of death."

 **Sun:** "So, we're just gonna take Monokuma's word that she was a robot?" He still seemed skeptical, indignation in his voice.

 **Ruby:** "Sun, we investigated her corpse... It's true, she was synthetic."

 **Sun:** "Fuck, are you serious? What is this some kind of sci-fi nonsense?" Jaune swore he heard Monokuma laughing in the background.

 **Yatsu:** "Back to topic, what did you find out on the body?"

 **Ruby:** "It seems she died because of damaged circuitry, which is consistent with the autopsy on the Monokuma File."

 **Nora:** "The what?"

 **Monokuma:** "The Monokuma File, didn't Luck Boy over there tell you?" Most of the students shook their heads in unison.

 **Monokuma:** "Dammit, Jaune, you had one job! I oughta execute you for that!"

 **Pyrrha:** "The Monokuma File is a short autopsy report, it's in all of our Scrolls." They all checked it, taking a few moments to register the new information.

 **Nora:** "Sooo, for those of us who aren't machine-inclined, what does 'damaged circuitry' mean?"

 **Velvet:** "It means the core processor inside her overloaded due to some external factor. Do I have that right?"

 **Ruby:** "Yes. When that happens, the power source can burst, destroying the rest of the machinery beyond repair."

 **Velvet:** "It does strike me as odd that something as advanced as her didn't have a fail-safe protection. I mean even my camera has it."

 **Ren:** "It says here she also suffered some damage to the right arm. Did you find out what caused it?"

 **Blake:** "The arm was ripped off its hinges, probably due to being pushed or bashed in with a lot of force."

 **Ruby:** "It also had some wires exposed, which could be how her core got fried."

 **Yang:** "She was holding a glass of water, wasn't she? If that was thrown in her exposed wires, could it kill her?" Ruby hesitated.

 **Blake:** "We think so, yes. There was even a puddle on the floor beneath her arm."

 **Weiss:** "Wait, are you saying she killed herself?"

 **Nora:** "Of course not, that would be stupid as hell!"

 **Ruby:** "Actually..."

 **Ren:** "The cafeteria closes during the night and we found her right after the morning announcement."

 **Coco:** "Which means there couldn't be anyone else inside with her, is that it?"

 **Weiss:** "But that doesn't prove anything, she could have been killed before the doors locked, and left there all night."

 **Pyrrha:** "It would be extremely risky to attempt something like that when everyone is still walking around."

 **Yang:** "What about the killer hiding in the cafeteria, waiting until the morning?"

 **Nora:** "Nope, we got there pretty early. It would be impossible to sneak past me and Ren."

 **Ren:** "Although not completely impossible, I have to agree. It's highly unlikely the killer could've pulled that off."

Jaune kept silent. The evidence spoke for itself, but he still didn't want to believe.

 **Yatsu:** "Also you found a stick in the cafeteria, right?"

 **Blake:** "Yes. It was a piece of a chair, sturdy enough to bludgeon her arm off."

 **Yang:** "Are you saying she broke her own arm? That's brutal."

 **Ruby:** "We're not saying she did it, just that she could..."

 **Ren:** "But again, if no one else was in there with her..."

 **Coco:** "So she killed herself. No one else could've done it."

 **Velvet:** "I guess..."

 **Jaune:** "I think it's too early to decide that. I mean... why?"

 **Yang:** "He's got a point. Penny was pretty introverted, but I don't really see why she'd commit suicide."

 **Neo:** _"What about the letter from her family?"_ She raised the notepad with an expressive motion, making sure everyone noticed.

 **Velvet:** "What about it?"

 **Pyrrha:** "We found it ripped to shreds in her trashcan. It would seem the letter caused great distress to Penny, considering how she disposed of it."

 **Nora:** "What's in it?"

 **Jaune:** "We didn't..."

 **Sun:** "I got you, man. It's right here." The monkey faunus retrieved, from the pocket in his shorts, a sheet of paper with the scraps of the letter glued on it.

 **Weiss:** "Why did you have that in your pocket?"

 **Sun:** "I thought it might come in handy, and I was right. I wasn't stealing anything."

 **Blake:** "Just read the damn thing."

 **Sun:** _"To: Prototype P.E. . General Ironwood would like to offer his congratulations in being enrolled into Beacon. We have the utmost faith in your capabilities, and expect you to excel at all the trials in the future. Remember that any failure will be—_ And it cuts off there."

 **Yang:** "Wow, that's cold."

 **Weiss:** "Sounds like standard Atlesian Military to me. At least now we know where she came from."

 **Yatsu:** "How do you know that?"

 **Weiss:** "I may be the Ultimate Singer, but I'm still the heiress to the Schnee legacy. Father does a lot of contracts for the army."

 **Emerald:** "Moving on, what does this tell us?" As she spoke she made a sweeping, dismissive gesture with her arm.

 **Ruby:** "She clearly wasn't happy about that letter, but from there to suicide..."

 **Jaune:** "I agree, that doesn't sound like reason enough."

 **Coco:** "If you have a different idea, we're open to suggestions." He didn't, at least not yet.

 **Sun:** "What if she was planning on killing someone? I mean we did find a knife in her closet..."

 **Velvet:** "That sounds like a pretty big clue."

 **Pyrrha:** "That still wouldn't explain how someone would go about killing her while the cafeteria was locked."

 **Blake:** "Pyrrha's right, Penny's intentions are irrelevant unless we can determine someone else was involved."

 **Jaune:** "Also, come on, man. Do you really think a girl like Penny could kill anyone?"

 **Sun:** "Alright, alright, no need to gang up on me, geesh. I was just throwing ideas out there."

 **Weiss:** "Speaking of ideas, did you find anything else in her room?"

 **Neo:** _"There was the journal."_

 **Ren:** "A journal? Did it have any clues in it?"

 **Jaune:** "Not really, she just talked about who she met and how she was feeling. There didn't seem to be any clues in there."

 **Weiss:** "You wouldn't happen to have it, would you?"

 **Sun:** "Of course!" He reached for the other pocket this time, and took the pile of papers out.

 **Yang:** "Do you put everything in your pockets?"

 **Sun:** "Hey, I'm helping, aren't I?"

 **Weiss:** "Can I see that, please?"

Sun handed it to her, and they gave her a couple of seconds, but Weiss offered no form of reaction.

 **Yatsu:** "So, where do we stand right now?"

 **Emerald:** "All the clues so far seem to point to Penny killing herself..."

 **Blake:** "Unless we're misinterpreting a piece of evidence."

 **Coco:** "I mean, is there anything else in the cafeteria she could have used to do it?"

 **Pyrrha:** "There are taps of water in the kitchen, but if she died sitting at the table, they'd be too far away to use."

 **Nora:** "Unless she got inside the oven, and the heat was what did it!"

 **Ruby:** "That might be enough to damage her, but..."

 **Ren:** "But the oven is not big enough to fit a person inside it."

 **Nora:** "You say that like you've tried it already."

 **Ren:** "You'd be surprised..." The chef sighed audibly.

 **Neo:** "So we got nothing?"

 **Yatsu:** "Apparently, no."

 **Blake:** "I'm still curious about something. Hey, Monokuma?"

 **Monokuma:** "Hmm, did someone call me? Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. Is it voting time yet?"

 **Blake:** "No, I just had a question for you. What happens if the case is a suicide?"

 **Monokuma:** "Well, you vote for the victim and pray to all the gods that you're right."

 **Yang:** "So you had planned for the possibility?"

 **Monokuma:** "Hey, what's with the interrogation? I'm not gonna solve the case for you!"

 **Velvet:** "So, do we just... vote for Penny?"

 **Jaune:** "No, I'm still not convinced. Something doesn't add up."

 **Ruby:** "I agree, we have to be missing something."

 **Emerald:** "Well, what about the sauna? We still haven't talked about that."

 **Yatsu:** "Was anything wrong with the sauna?"

 **Pyrrha:** "The dressing room was a complete mess, almost like a fight had happened there."

 **Coco:** "Yeah but if the scene of the crime was the cafeteria, what does that have to do with the case?"

 **Yang:** "I say we hear it out, square any doubts the rest of us has." Weiss was still too distracted with the journal, so Emerald explained the situation.

 **Emerald:** "When we got there, one of the locker cabinets was fallen over, and there was a crapload of stuff on the floor. Stuff that should've been inside the lockers."

 **Jaune:** "Plus, the cabinet was facing away from the sauna door. Someone moved it, there were even marks on the floor to prove it."

 **Coco:** "But couldn't that have been moved before?"

 **Jaune:** "No, Ren and I were in the sauna all afternoon that day. Everything was where it was supposed to be."

 **Yang:** "All afternoon, just the two of you? What naughty things were you boys up to in there?"

 **Ren:** "What one does in a sauna. What's important is that the cabinet must've been moved after we left."

 **Neo:** _"But why?"_

 **Emerald:** "Considering where it was this morning, I think it's safe to say that the cabinet was positioned against the sauna door."

 **Nora:** "You mean like locking it?"

 **Yang:** "A cabinet of that size would probably work wonders for keeping the door shut."

 **Jaune:** "Exactly, the handle to the door was even broken, so there must have been a struggle."

 **Pyrrha:** "Maybe someone was inside, trying to get out."

 **Blake:** "Wait, did you say the handle was _broken_?" The cat faunus seemed impatient all of a sudden.

 **Jaune:** "Yeah, is that important?"

 **Blake:** "Very. The rules say damaging school property is a violation, and warrants punishment. Isn't that right, Monokuma?"

 **Monokuma:** "It sure is! So, don't go around breaking stuff, you filthy hooligans!"

 **Pyrrha:** "But if the door handle is already broken..."

 **Blake:** "Exactly, the rule even specifically mentions doors."

 **Yang:** "There's no way Monokuma missed that, not with all those cameras around."

 **Ruby:** "So whoever broke it must've been punished already."

 **Jaune:** "And there's only one of us missing. See, I told you Monokuma had been the one to kill Penny. He even made it look like suicide just to mess with us!"

 **Monokuma:** "Hey, that's not fair! I was going to punish her, but someone else got to her before I could."

 **Pyrrha:** "Someone else, does that mean..."

 **Monokuma:** "Crap, I already said too much. Me and my big mouth."

 **Yatsu:** "So we just confirmed that Penny was the one who broke the door handle."

 **Blake:** "And that someone was involved. Isn't that right, Monokuma?"

 **Monokuma:** "..."

 **Sun:** "I guess he's not talking anymore."

 **Blake:** "That's alright, he already gave us what we needed."

 **Velvet:** "But how did she get from the dressing room to the cafeteria if the doors were locked shut?"

 **Pyrrha:** "Maybe we should leave that be for now, and focus on understanding the part the sauna played in all this."

 **Neo:** "So we know Penny was in there, what else?"

 **Emerald:** "If she had to break the handle she was probably locked inside. That explains the cabinet, it was put there to keep her in."

 **Coco:** "Couldn't she have put it there herself?"

 **Yang:** "How could she place a cabinet against the door if she was inside it? Someone else had to do it."

 **Ruby:** "So this really was a murder..." The red-hooded girl looked down sadly.

 **Yatsu:** "But why would someone lock her inside the sauna? What is the purpose here?"

 **Jaune:** "Ruby, didn't you say what happened to Penny could've been due to overheating?"

 **Ruby:** "Yeah but... OH, the sauna is really hot! That might be it!"

 **Sun:** "Wait, she was killed by being put inside a functioning sauna? Really?"

 **Nora:** "Remember when we invited her to the sauna and she refused? Maybe she knew it was dangerous, and that's why she didn't want to go."

 **Yang:** "But if she was afraid of going into a sauna, how did she end up getting killed there?"

 **Blake:** "It would probably take someone she trusted to convince her into it."

 **Jaune:** "Hey, why is everybody looking at me?" He could feel their gaze burning into his skin.

 **Ren:** "It's not really a secret that Penny trusted you and Pyrrha more than the rest of us."

 **Emerald:** "That means you would have the means to do it."

 **Nora:** "Yeah and ever since the beginning you've been pushing us into thinking it was Monokuma. Sounds awfully suspicious if you ask me."

 **Jaune:** "You can't be serious, right?"

 **Pyrrha:** "I'm sure they're just joking. And we're not finished discussing the case. What about the towels we found at the laundry room?" Jaune mouthed a quiet _'Thank You'_ to her, and she smiled in return.

 **Nora:** "Right, there were a bunch of towels in one of the washing machines. They had been put there recently."

 **Emerald:** "By any chance was any of them missing a piece?"

 **Nora:** "Yep, where was it again?"

 **Jaune:** "We found it stuck to the sauna door. Must've gotten there when Penny was trapped."

 **Neo:** _"But why would she be using a towel?"_

 **Yang:** "Well, it IS a bath house, you usually take your clothes off when you get in."

 **Ren:** "I think what Neo means is that we found her dressed in the cafeteria, so it wouldn't make sense for her to be undressed in the crime scene." The mute girl gestured affirmatively.

 **Blake:** "So she was undressed when she died, but dressed afterwards? The answer to that is pretty simple: the killer dressed her."

 **Ruby:** "Hmm, that would explain why her hairstyle looked different."

 **Sun:** "So, were the towels for, like, drying Penny?"

 **Velvet:** "Makes sense."

 **Nora:** "So Jaune cleaned up the body, dressed her and threw the towels in the washing machine to cover his tracks, is that it?"

 **Jaune:** "Guys, please, I didn't..."

 **Yang:** "That way he could make it look like a suicide."

 **Jaune:** "Come on, it wasn't..."

 **Yatsu:** "But we still don't know how he got into the cafeteria during nighttime."

 **Jaune:** "GUYS, I DIDN'T KILL HER!"

 **Coco:** "Oh yeah, shouting is really helping your case."

 **Sun:** "I mean, are we sure it was him? 'Cause if so we could just go ahead and vote..."

 **Ruby:** "No, we still haven't figured out everything. No voting until then." She made a resolute voice, stomping her foot in a demand to be heard.

 **Neo:** "But we have no more clues, right?"

 **Velvet:** "Not that I can think of."

 **Yang:** "Want me to roughen him up until he gives us a confession?" The blonde cracked her knuckles menacingly.

 **Jaune:** "Pyrrha, a little help here..." He looked at her with pleading eyes, asking her to get him out of that predicament. She believed him, right?

 **Pyrrha:** "Weiss, you've been quiet for a while. Do you have nothing to say?"

 _Really, Pyrrha? You try to get help from the one person here who despises my very existence?_

 **Weiss:** "Something is off here." She wasn't even looking up, still scouring through the journal for clues.

 **Jaune:** "Huh?"

 **Weiss:** "Oh yeah, Jaune didn't do it." She finally raised her gaze to the class, sounding almost dismissive.

 **Weiss:** "I mean, come on, look at him. A worthless worm like him could never pull such an elaborate scheme."

 **Jaune:** "Exactly!" _Wait, why am I agreeing with this?_

 **Pyrrha:** "Then what do you mean something is off?"

 **Weiss:** "Are you sure this is everything? There aren't any missing pieces of the journal?"

 **Sun:** "Yes, that's all we found in her room." Neo nodded in agreement.

 **Ruby:** "Why, did you find something?"

 **Weiss:** "It's not so much as what I found, but what I didn't."

 **Yang:** "Oh stop beating around the bush and tell us already!"

 **Weiss:** "Jaune, what did you say was the common theme in all of Penny's journal entries?"

 **Jaune:** "The people she talks to?"

 **Weiss:** "Precisely. She mentions the time Ren asked her why she didn't eat, when we invited her to the sauna, even one time that you merely smiled at her."

 **Nora:** "Awww."

 **Pyrrha:** "So, what's wrong with that?"

 **Weiss:** "Well, there's someone missing from her journal..." She lifted a finger, and pointed it forward.

 **Coco:** "Me?"

 **Yatsu:** "What do you mean?"

 **Weiss:** "You two talked for most of the breakfast a couple of days ago."

 **Pyrrha:** "Now that you mention it, they did, Coco complimented her dress. I remember because Penny looked quite happy about it."

 **Blake:** "I'm impressed, Schnee. Didn't know you cared."

 **Weiss:** "I don't. I just like to observe, that's all." Somehow, Jaune wanted to believe that wasn't true, but the singer had a fierce reputation of being cold.

 **Coco:** "So what if I'm not in there? Maybe she didn't like me enough to put me on her little journal."

 **Weiss:** " _Jaune smiled at me when I got to breakfast today. Oh, and Velvet too. She seems nice as well."_

 **Coco:** "So, maybe she had a crush on Jaune, what else?"

 **Weiss:** "On _Jaune_? Oh please, like that's even possible."

 **Pyrrha:** "No need to get rude..." _Thanks, at least you care._

 **Weiss:** "Penny wrote about every time she interacted with someone, except you. Don't you find that strange?"

 **Coco:** "Are you saying I did it? Is that it?"

 **Weiss:** "Maybe I am." She slammed her smooth hands on the stand, offering weight to her accusation.

 **Coco:** "Based on what? Evidence that doesn't exist?"

 **Nora:** "Or maybe evidence that was destroyed." The whole room turned to look at her.

 **Jaune:** "Huh?"

 **Nora:** "We did find out that the incinerator had been used, we just couldn't tell what was thrown in it. Maybe she threw some journal pages in there."

 **Sun:** "It makes sense, I mean why would Penny detach the pages from the notepad in her room? It makes more sense to just flip a page every time she wants to write, no need to rip them off."

 **Jaune:** "So Coco detached the pages so we wouldn't know one of them was missing?"

 **Coco:** "Look at him! We had him cornered, so now he's trying to pin the blame on me! Real chivalrous, Jaune."

 **Yang:** "But what difference did it make if she was in the journal? Why would she need to get rid of that evidence?"

 **Blake:** "You started suspecting Jaune just because Penny trusted him. If Coco was mentioned in the journal to be trustworthy, she would've been under fire too."

 **Ren:** "Besides, we can't know the exact contents of the page, there could be incriminating information inside."

 **Coco:** "So that's it? You are all just deciding I did it with no proof whatsoever?" The Ultimate Fashionista was growing impatient, her voice steadily increasing in tone.

 **Yatsu:** "She's right, we have nothing concrete tying her to the murder."

 **Emerald:** "So what, we don't need to convince a judge, we just have to vote for her, isn't that right, Monokuma?"

 **Monokuma:** "Damn straight. Are you ready yet?"

 **Coco:** "No, we're not ready yet! This is far from over!"

 **Jaune:** "As much as I hate to agree, you did almost just vote me up like five minutes ago. Maybe we should delve a bit more into this."

 **Neo:** "Maybe we should recap the whole story."

 **Yang:** "So, the killer lured Penny into the sauna and then locked her inside using the cabinet."

 **Ruby:** "Stuck inside the heat began interfering with her systems, so she struggled to get out and broke the door handle in the process."

 **Blake:** "Considering what Monokuma said, she probably died before even leaving the room. Pushing the cabinet away might have been her last action before shutting down for good."

 **Ren:** "Then the murderer used the towels to dry and redress her, not knowing a strip had gotten stuck under the door."

 **Sun:** "Makes sense, considering Coco is the Ultimate Fashionista. She would want the victim to still look good."

 **Weiss:** "Nothing to say so far, Coco?" The brunette chuckle subtly.

 **Coco:** "No, I want to hear what comes next."

 **Velvet:** "Next? Well, the killer threw the used towels in the washing machine and then... Oh!"

 **Coco:** "That's right _! 'And then she moved to the cafeteria'_ , is that what you were going to say? Then answer me, how did I do such a thing?" The class fell silent.

 _How did she do it?_ They had postponed that detail since the beginning of the trial, but still eluded him. Yet he knew it was there, plain as day, he just couldn't see it. What was he forgetting?

 **Coco:** "Exactly. I couldn't have. Penny killed herself, there is no other explanation. Monokuma must've just gotten sloppy."

 _No, that can't be it._ He didn't want to believe one of them had actually done it, but all their lives were on the line.

He mentally reviewed all the evidence. The dressing room, Penny's room, the laundry, the body...

 _The body!_

 **Coco:** "I couldn't enter he cafeteria during nighttime! What you're suggesting is impossible!"

 **Jaune:** "No, that's wrong!"

 **Coco:** "Excuse me?"

 **Jaune:** "Ruby, besides the overloaded circuitry, what else was strange about Penny's body?"

 **Ruby:** "Her arm was ripped off..."

 **Jaune:** "And why was that?"

 **Ruby:** "Because it had been pulled on repeatedly until the skin broke."

 **Blake:** "Which we assumed had been done using the piece of chair that was in the cafeteria."

 **Jaune:** "But could it have been done by... forcefully dragging the body from the dressing room to the cafeteria?"

 **Ruby:** "I guess."

 **Blake:** "Wait, are you suggesting..."

 **Jaune:** "That assumption was made before we knew the sauna was involved in the case. What if the stick was used for something else?"

 **Nora:** "Like breaking someone's legs!"

 **Jaune:** "No, Nora, what? I mean, like blocking the cafeteria door from locking."

 **Weiss:** "That could work..."

 **Emerald:** "But did you only find a piece of the chair? Where's the rest of it?"

 **Ren:** "It probably got crushed when the doors tried to automatically close."

 **Blake:** "And the killer threw it into the incinerator to hide the evidence, so we'd think Penny was locked inside the cafeteria. That way suicide would be the only logical answer."

 **Sun:** "But she messed up and left a piece behind. Wow this sounds just like a mystery movie."

 **Weiss:** "Well, Coco? Is that answer enough?"

Coco laughed.

 **Coco:** "That's a great story you made up there, I have to admit, but there's just one problem with it - you still haven't given that proof that I did it. For all we know, Jaune could have thrown the journal pages into the incinerator just to frame me!" She removed her sunglasses, any semblance of composure long gone, and revealing her flustered and enraged face.

 **Jaune:** "Really, you're still insisting on that?"

 **Neo:** _"A for Effort."_

 **Sun:** "Just admit it already."

 **Coco:** "Admit? I will do no such thing! Show me evidence that proves my guilt!"

 **Weiss:** "Actually, we might just have that."

 **Coco:** "WHAT?"

 **Weiss:** "Velvet, do you still have the photo you took of the dressing room?"

 **Velvet:** "Yeah, why?"

 **Weiss:** "When the cabinet fell, all the lockers slammed open, spilling the contents on the floor."

 **Blake:** "You want to see if Coco's clothes are there..."

 **Weiss:** "Exactly. If she tried to hide her tracks, she probably removed her things from the mess."

 **Ruby:** "Can I..." The sniper was handed the picture. "No, I don't see them anywhere."

 **Weiss:** "And before you say anything, Coco, Jaune wasn't in the bath with us. He couldn't know which stuff was yours."

 **Nora:** "So if they're missing, it had to be her, right?"

 **Yang:** "What's the matter, Coco? Gave up already?"

The brunette didn't answer.

 **Pyrrha:** "It really was you..."

 **Jaune:** "I just don't get why..."

 **Blake:** "That's easy, she knew about Penny's secret."

 **Sun:** "How? I thought the journal said Penny couldn't reveal what she was."

 **Blake:** "The knife you found, it matched a cut on her leg. It was a shallow wound, but it showed the metal inside. She probably did it to show Coco since she couldn't say it out loud, a loophole in her programming."

 **Coco:** "SHE WASN'T EVEN HUMAN!"

 **Yatsu:** "You finally admit it?"

 **Coco:** "SO WHAT IF I KILLED HER? SHE HAD NO FAMILY, NO ONE TO MISS HER BACK HOME!"

Neither of them said a word, the entire class dumbstruck by her insane performance. She wasn't the cool woman they had met a week ago, she was a murderer.

 **Coco:** "She was a machine, why should I care more for her than I did my family?"

 **Jaune:** "She was one of us, dammit!"

 **Pyrrha:** "You did it because of Monokuma's incentive, didn't you?"

 **Coco:** "They are waiting for me to come back, I can't stay here forever! What will happen to mom's clothing shop if I never return? They are swimming in debt already, they'll go bankrupt without my designs, I can't just abandon them..."

 **Ruby:** "Coco..."

 **Coco:** "I only wanted to see my family..." All her anger was gone, and only a faint despair was left.

 **Velvet:** "Do we... vote now?"

 **Ren:** "I guess so."

 **CLASS TRIAL - END**

* * *

Jaune looked at the stand in front of him and saw the display light up with a picture of each one of them. His finger was just above Coco's face, ready to put an end to it, but he found he couldn't do it. He couldn't sentence one of his classmates to death, regardless of what she had done.

There was a loud crashing noise.

He turned to its source and saw that Yatsuhashi had unsheathed his bamboo sword and descended it upon the display, breaking it into pieces. Nevertheless, he still seemed serene, resolute even.

"What is the meaning of this?" Monokuma broke the silence, his voice a roar of discontent.

"I refuse to participate in this absurdity. I won't play your games, bear."

"Is that so, Mr. Daichi? And what do you intend to do, stop me?"

"I will if I have to." He grabbed his weapon in a combat stance, staring at the opponent.

"Upupupupu, how brave of you. Almost sounded like a main character for a second there." The mascot laughed, not even remotely threatened by the swordsman. "There is just one problem, Mr. Daichi."

Monokuma's twisted red eye gleamed, accompanying his perverse smile. "Destroying school material is against the rules."

Before anyone could react, a projectile tore through one of the curtains, and fired at the tall man. He took a moment to notice the sword impaled in his chest, a real blade of steel buried in him up until the hilt unlike his wooden one. He gasped for air, dropping his weapon on the floor, but blood was all that came out of his mouth. Within a few seconds he collapsed back, falling out of the circular stage, and stopped moving.

"You just always have to defy me, don't you? I told you all what would happen if you broke the rules."

No one moved. No one said a word, not even to scream. The class just stared in disbelief at the scene before them. Two deaths so close to one another, and they were being forced to provoke yet another. It had to be a bad dream, a group drug-induced hallucinogen, a computer-run simulation, something other than real.

"Anyone else feeling rebellious? Good, then go on with the vote. This trial has dragged on for long enough." Even the bear sounded weary.

Jaune breathed in deeply, and closed his eyes. All he could see in that darkness was Penny's inert corpse, or Yatsuhashi falling down and ceasing to be. He no longer felt pain or fear, but instead a numbness spreading throughout his entire self. It was too much, and he just wanted it all to stop.

One by one, all of them pressed the button on the display. A loud clanking of gears turning alerted them to the roof above them opening up, parting in two halves and retracting. From the newly created opening descended a massive screen, occupying a good slice of the circular room. Jaune held his breath in anticipation, and the image flickered and came online, illuminating the entire courtroom.

A slot machine appeared under the words "Who was the culprit?", and began spinning, quickly flashing all of their faces. The first one stopped, then the second, and finally the third, all displaying Coco Adel's face.

"You were right on the money!" Monokuma pressed a button in his chair, and the circular stage rotated until the Ultimate Fashionista's stand was in front of his throne.

A metallic arm extended from the wall behind the mascot, grabbing the killer.

"Please, I just wanted…"

The curtains opened to reveal a tunnel inside, and the robotic arm pushed her inside. The screen flickered again, asking for the students' attention.

" _ **Am I Pretty Yet?"**_

 _Ultimate Fashionista_

 _Coco Adel's Execution_

The title card fell, and the camera showed a dark auditorium, the comfortable chairs all occupied by countless Monokumas. Spotlights turned on, pointed towards a white catwalk with black curtains behind it. Coco was standing confusedly at the very beginning of the pathway, glimmering under the constant flashes of pictures of her being taken.

Gradually, the girl realized where she was, a scenario she was all too familiar with, and corrected her posture. She didn't need to be told what to do next, starting a slow and tantalizing walk forward, showing off her training as a model.

As soon as she took the first step, a grinding noise spurted from behind her, and a slither of floor opened for a buzzsaw to make an appearance. The threatening blade was as tall as her, spinning behind her, following her every movement to ensure she couldn't turn back. The Monokumas cheered in the background, euphoric to see her confidence beginning to waver.

Just as she was reaching a third of the way, the next trap activated, two machines appearing from the side of the stage and spewing bursts of flames just a couple of steps ahead of her. Coco kept walking – she had no other choice – and the very moment the fire interrupted she leapt through it, attempting to avoid the flames. The blazing heat missed her just barely, but the edge of her jacket caught on fire.

The girl did her best to remove the jacket without stopping, throwing it to the audience, but the article of clothing was caught mid-air by a robotic arm coming from the ceiling. The new tool stretched down and forced the jacket back on her back, the fire spreading steadily through it.

She didn't scream, keeping her last sliver of dignity, but her face was becoming visibly red and sweating. She walked on, trying to ignore the heat consuming her underneath all the layers of clothing, and the ever-rotating knife-edge behind her.

Two thirds through the catwalk a pendulum blade joined the gauntlet of fashion. Coco dodged it just in time, but her arm was still grazed, letting a single drop of blood drip down.

Her legs were no longer steady, the pain from the burning jacket overriding any capability of rational thought. Panic took over, and she took off the piece of clothing again, replacing the slow model walk by a desperate run. She quickly approached the end of the catwalk, yearning for an escape, but there was none.

The girl smashed into a transparent wall, and slammed her fists into it, trying to escape the glass prison surrounding the catwalk. This time she screamed, feeling the end coming soon. The buzzsaw behind finally caught up to her, and she turned around when it was already too late. The blade sliced through her like butter, splitting her in two. The pieces of her fell down, resting amid the blood that was pouring everywhere.

The transmission cut.

"Oh, now _that_ got the blood flowing! Well, if I had any blood, of course." Monokuma was back to his despicable demeanor.

The boy felt his entire body shivering with dread, grabbing onto the stand in front of him to keep from losing balance. Why was this happening to them? What had they done to deserve any of it? He bit back his own tears, knuckles white with the force he was using to steady himself.

"You won't get away with this." Blake muttered under her breath next to him, so quiet that the words never reached the headmaster.

It seemed like an eternity passed until a sound was heard once again inside the courtroom.

"What are you still standing here for? The trial is over, shoo with you! Back to your rooms!"

"What about…"

"Mr. Daichi? Don't worry, I'll take care of it, now get!"

They all complied with the stuffed bear's orders, lacking in energy for any response or act of disobedience. One by one, they entered the elevator, and were brought back to the first floor of the school. Neither of them remembered Monokuma's promise of the rest of the letters from their families, a distant memory that felt like it had happened years ago, back when they were still filled with hope.

Jaune went back to his room, and buried himself in his bed, hiding away from the cruel and ruthless world they were in. Despite all that had transpired that day, he managed to fall asleep quickly, embarking in a dreamless voyage until the next day. A new dawn would bring a new page for the students of that academy, one that wasn't stained with blood and misery. And if luck would have it, they would succeed in keeping it that way.

 **CHAPTER 1 – END**

 **Students Alive - 12**

* * *

 **So how about that trial, huh? Did you know who the culprit was, or did it catch you by surprise? Don't forget to review, input helps me write better cases and trials in the future.**

 **The next chapter might take a bit longer than usual to arrive. I'm still finishing something else, and Christmas is almost here, which is always a mess. 'Till next time.**


	6. Chapter 2-1

**Chapter 2 - Letters of Despair**

 **DING DONG DING DONG**

 **"Gooood morning, everyone! It is now 8 am. Time to get up and face another day."**

Jaune kept his eyes closed, wishing he was still asleep. It had been hard to get any rest after all the carnage of the previous day, but he had somehow managed to, although he felt just as tired as before he went to bed.

He simply lay there, feeling nothing but his skull buzzing inside his head. What reason did he have to get up, to face another day? Penny was dead, as were Coco and Yatsuhashi. His faith in the Ultimates, in the strength of the group, had clearly been mistaken. They were still stuck inside that horrendous game, and Monokuma played dirty, always managing to come out on top.

He thought about getting up and going to breakfast, but what was even the point in it? Clearly team-building hadn't worked for them, so spending time together was just a way to make yourself a target. On the other hand so was locking himself in his room, but one of those two possibilities was effortless. Instead of walking around, facing his feelings and interacting with his classmates, he could just pretend it was all a bad dream, sticking to a place he knew was safe.

With that in mind, he ignored the announcement and went back to sleep.

* * *

 **DIIIIIIIIIING DOOOOOONG**

The boy sprung awake, his head propelling out of the pillow without command. He looked around, feeling temporarily confused, but the realization of where he was soon sunk in once again.

 _Still in this damn school, obviously._

 **DIIIIIIIIIING DOOOOOONG**

He stared at the door with pleading eyes, as if the wooden contraption would take pity on him and stop ringing. When it didn't, he got up from the bed and walked over to the heartless thing, turning the handle around.

"Hey, Pyrrha." He had expected her to be the one outside, and she looked worried.

"Good morning, Jaune. How are you doing?" She was polite and subtle, but it was obvious that her question was meant to pry deeper into his feelings.

"Fine, considering." _Horrible, I want to throw myself off a window if that's what it'll take to get away from this school, but I can't even do that because the freaking things are barred. "Sorry_ I missed breakfast, I wasn't very hungry."

Her green eyes pondered for a second, most likely wondering if she should call out his lies. Then, having made up her mind, she grabbed his wrist and pulled him out of the room.

"Well, you'd better be hungry now because everyone is waiting for you."

 _Huh? Waiting for me, why? D-did someone else die and I slept through the announcement?_ He kept his thoughts to himself, and allowed her to drag him with her muscular arms, silently praying nobody else had been taken away.

The red corridor became the white hall, and not long after they were at the door to the cafeteria. She dropped his hand and pushed the door open, so he could walk in by himself.

"Took you long enough."

He did his best to ignore Yang, as well as the ten pairs of eyes staring intensely at him, grabbing a chair and sitting down in front of the table.

Twelve of them, that was all they had now. Number-wise it didn't seem like such a decrease, but three people had gone, and that was more loss than he had thought he'd ever experience in the timespan of a week. Penny Polendina, the shy and tortured girl, incapable of sharing the secret of her metallic body. Yatsuhashi Daichi, the stoic swordsman, a stalwart of strength and honor until the end. Coco Adel, the eccentric model, driven to do unspeakable things for the love she had for her family. Those were the names of those taken away from them, and Jaune would not forget them until the day of this death.

They were only twelve, but that did not spell the end just yet. They had numbers, and they had each other. Despite it all, he wanted to believe they would pull through it all. If he didn't, then all hope was gone, and the headmaster had already won.

"You know, shutting yourself in your room isn't good for your health. Ask Penny."

"Em..." Sun sounded unamused, which was telling of how bad the joke was.

"What, too soon?"

"You were all waiting for me, why?" Jaune changed the subject abruptly.

"Because we like you and want to make sure you're alright?" Ruby's attempt at being nice fell on deaf ears, no one paying her any mind.

"Monokuma wanted to speak to everyone again."

"Another motive?" He turned to Blake, who had given a decent answer.

"Oum, I hope not." Everyone nodded in agreement with Pyrrha's statement.

Right on cue, the dreadful bear walked in through the door with a smile on his twisted mouth. "What's with the gloomy faces? Y'all look like someone d- Oh, oops, my bad."

They didn't respond, waiting impatiently for the reason for being summoned to that place.

"You guys are a bore." Monokuma seemed disappointed about not getting any displeased reactions. "Anyway, now that everyone is here, I have an announcement to make. The second floor is now unlocked."

"What?"

"Second floor?"

"Can we believe him?"

"Maybe there's a way out up there!"

"What are we waiting for?"

The headmaster cleared his throat, demanding to be given attention.

"Now that's the kind of excitement I want to see. Upstairs you'll find new commodities to make your life here more interesting, as well as a plethora of new ways of attempting graduation. Call it a reward for surviving the first trial."

The class' enthusiasm faltered a bit at the reminder that they were still part of a cruel mutual killing game. They glanced amongst themselves, wondering if it was okay to see the upstairs area if it meant discovering new murder weapons, and putting themselves through that torment again. Had once not been enough for that sadistic mascot?

"What are you waiting for? Start leggin'it, kiddos."

"Huh... How do we get to the second floor again?" Nora looked confusedly at the stuffed animal.

"What do you mean where is it, the stairs are right next to the gymnasium! You have been there before!"

"I don't remember any stairs there..."

"So what, they're there and they've been there since Chapter 1! It's not like I retconned them in or anything."

"Now he's just spouting nonsense." Weiss made her voice heard, clearly displeased with what was going on.

"Should we just go?"

"Yeah, let's."

The twelve students got up and walked out of the cafeteria, leaving the monochrome bear by himself. They crossed the length of the school's first floor, hoping the new territory would bring them a break. There was some idle banter, trading ideas about what they hoped to find upstairs, but mostly they were just walking as a group. Whatever the prize was bound to bring them, the mere promise of novelty, of a possibility of escape, had already succeeded in kick-starting their will to continue. It was what they did in those troubling circumstances, when all was but on the verge of breaking, they clung to whatever hope was left, picked up the pieces and continued fighting.

The stairs were exactly where the bear said they would be, a large gap in the wall by the left side of the gym with two sets of steps leading up. The metallic bars that had once been barring them were nowhere to be found, permitting access deeper in to the school.

Jaune felt his breath shake in anticipation, stopping to stare at the staircase with the rest of his classmates. He glanced to the sides, and saw others do the same. There was a possibility, however small, that it had been a trap set by the mastermind, and they were about to walk into nothing but more suffering.

Ruby was the first to move forward, ignoring the hypothetical danger and placing her small foot on the lowest step. When there was no explosion, nor spears being fired from the walls, the rest followed suit.

What they found on the second floor was, honestly, a tad disappointing. It looked just like the first one, plain walls with plenty of artificial lighting, but none natural. There were a couple of doors visible from the hall they were standing in, the one that started at the staircase, and surely others waiting after the two corners in the hall. Simply put, it all reeked of familiarity, of more of the same, and the same, well... it hadn't exactly pleasant thus far.

Still, deprived of all else, that flickering ember of hope was all they had left in them, so the class marched onwards.

Shortly after its beginning, the corridor forked to the left, leading into a small space featuring a door with grey stained glass. The sharpshooter, still in the forefront of the group, walked up to it, intending on entering.

"Should we split up?" Jaune spoke up, hoping the red-hooded girl heard him, as well as all the others.

"Maybe that's a good idea, we cover more ground." Velvet nodded in agreement, the omnipresent flash of her camera veering dangerously close to becoming an annoyance.

The group begrudgingly accepted the proposal, leaving Ruby, Sun, Neo and Ren to investigate that first door, while the others checked the rest of the floor. The eight of them walked away from the alley, and moved to the fork in the hallway. Right at their left side were the stairs to a third floor, blocked by metallic door just like the ones to the second floor had been before. Nevertheless, they group of classmates ran eagerly to them, and attempted with all their might to move the blockade, but to no avail, even with the help of the muscular students among them.

Disappointed, they left the stairway behind and moved on to the right-hand of the hall, knowing that the upper floor would wait for them to kill again. They reached a small square of empty space, where, by the closest wall, were two small doors labelled 2-A and 2-B. Emerald approached the first one and peeked inside.

"Another classroom. Great."

"We should check it anyway, there could be clues inside." Weiss spoke with a demanding tone, her usual. She walked into the room, and the green-haired magician followed her, but not before dramatically rolling her eyes towards the rest of the class.

"Guessing the other one is a classroom too." Yang noted, pointing at the next door.

"Probably, yes."

"C'mon, let's go the two of us. I want to have a talk with you." Nora grabbed the boxer's arm, and pushed her towards the second classroom, giggling all the while. Yang didn't question it, guessing what was about to come. Jaune shuddered at the thought of the havoc those two could cause together, and vowed never to know what was about to happen in that room.

"I guess all that's left is that one door." Blake pointed behind them, to the farthest side of the square, where there were, in fact, three more doors near the corner.

"What about…"

"Bathrooms."

"Oh, okay."

The four of them, Velvet, Blake Phyrra and Jaune, walked over to the last uninvestigated room of the floor, and entered together. The library was ample, a little over half the size of the cafeteria, and probably five times his already too large room. He thought of his father and his mother, and what a headache the two of them would have cleaning up the extent of that place – it would be a task without end. Remembering his family, of course, brought him nothing but sorrow, so he tried to distract himself by inspecting the inside of the room.

There were brown wooden bookshelves around the entire length, covering every wall from the floor to the ceiling, some even perpendicular to the rest, looking quite like walls of their own. Some of the shelves had thin matching ladders leaning on them, to allow the students access to the uppermost books that would otherwise be out of reach. Nine tables were disposed in the empty floor between the bookshelves, almost like alcoves where one could find respite with the company of quality reading. On the opposing side of the library was a clearing with another six tables perfectly arranged orthogonally, and a thicker desk in the back, with a petite lamp atop it. Chairs were evenly distributed among the furniture, betraying the room's ability to house a small platoon.

 _Makes sense, there were supposed to be more classes besides us._

He had never been too fond of libraries, too septic and forcefully quiet, but there was a sort of nostalgia to it now. Missing being a normal student, with essays and exams, wasn't at all strange considering the school they were in. However grueling, any five-page paper on the history of Remnant seemed desirable when compared to the trials of death they faced.

Moving closer to one of the shelves, Jaune eyed the titles on the countless covers adorning it. " _The Four Maidens: Folklore and Rumors in Remnant", "Myths of Creation and Other Nonsense",_ it all seemed bulky and academic, not at all the kind of thing he'd be interested in. Sadly, the library didn't look like it would have anything with flashy pictures in it.

"I bet Blake is going to flip when she sees all of this." He did not realize he as saying it out loud until he heard a chuckle way in the distance. He turned around, and, surely enough, the cat faunus was already sitting isolated by a table, barely visible behind a humongous pile of books.

As he faced back, he noticed Pyrrha walking up to the farthest wall, where a small door was infused near the desk. He followed after her, curious about the possibility of a new section, one that wasn't so dull. She flicked the handle, and opened it.

It was near pitch black inside, a small square, closet-like compartment with no windows or other light sources. The boy hurried to fetch the desk lamp, but verified that the cord only stretched up to the very entrance, the small lightbulb struggling with all its might to cast away the darkness.

"Can you see anything?"

"More shelves. It's hard to tell what's in them, apart from being books." She looked back at him, the surrounding void making her face look like a twisted grinning monstrosity, instead of the apologetic smile he knew she was certainly displaying. "Sorry."

"That's okay." He left the room with the redhead in tow, and placed the lamp back in its place. Upon doing so, the boy saw Velvet scouring through the drawers in the desk. Her brown eyes seemed lit up, like she had made an important discovery.

"Found something, Velvet?"

"I think so." She said timidly, for once not handling her camera, the black gadget laying rigidly over the top of the table.

The rabbit-eared girl reached into one of the drawers, and retrieved from within it a flat rectangular object. She gently put it on the desk where the other two could see it.

"Is that a laptop?"

"Looks like it, yeah."

The Ultimate Luckster almost ran up to it, yearning to see what was inside it. As his fingers were beginning to touch the lid, however, he looked at the brunette, asking her with his eyes if it was okay to handle the object she had discovered. Velvet nodded.

He smiled eagerly, and lifted the cover of the computer. He had missed the feel of his own hardware set up, a modest machine that had kept him company through countless hours. The blond boy pressed the power button, and reveled in the sound of gears turning and energy being distributed through the various systems. The screen came alive soon after, displaying a dark-green surface, with four lighter-hued words in it.

" _Please insert your name."_

He typed in 'Jaune Arc', and pressed enter. A spinning shape appeared, indicating it was loading, and after a short wait they were greeted by the contents of the laptop. Maintaining the dark-green color, two bars showed up on either side of the screen, separated by a thin barrier in the middle of the area. It was all too familiar, even though it was not what he expected to find.

"Is this… Pong?" The two girls didn't answer. He touched the arrow keys, and surely enough, one of the bars moved up and down, confirming his suspicions. Upon touching the enter key, however, he got a bright flash straight to his eyes.

"Velvet!"

"It wasn't me!"

"Was it the computer?"

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud ' _Ding'_ , and the game began.

At the very center of the screen, a ball was summoned, except it wasn't really a ball. It was a pixelated render of Jaune's head being thrown around the field, the target of the bars on each side. It even left a trail of pixelated blood in its path, adding to the absurd yet disturbing aesthetic of the game.

He stared in shock at the laptop, failing to comply with the objective of the program. It was such a stupid and cruel prank that he couldn't process what was happening. He heard Velvet laughing behind him, a shy chuckle at first, but then evolving into a burst of laughter. He glared at her confusedly, and saw Pyrrha do the same.

"I'm sorry, it's just so… silly!" The photographer hid her mouth with one hand, trying to contain the giggling. Whether she was laughing at the game or at him, he did not think to ask.

"Can I?" The redhead asked for permission to approach the computer, and he got out of her way. She pressed Escape, and the screen reverted to the initial state. When she inserted her name, the flash appeared again, and then the game started again, this time with a cutesy image of Pyrrha serving as the ball.

"Is there nothing else in it?" They tried all the keys, pressed the mousepad repeatedly as if trying to unlock an obscure secret mode, but no result came to pass. "Guess it was just that bad joke."

"I thought it was funny…" Velvet made a puppy-eyed expression, and so he forsook arguing with her about it. There was no point after all, the laptop was a bust that he would do well to forget.

"I guess that's everything in here?" Pyrrha traded glances with him, and they decided to leave that place behind. On the way out, he noticed Blake still deeply immersed in her reading.

"You sure do love books, don't you?" He tried his best no to sound accusing, but she saw through him like glass. She had been a key player in the trial, providing immense help, but today she had done next to nothing for their shared struggle.

"Did you find anything?"

"Not really."

"Because I did." There was a sort of victorious tone to those words, the cat faunus enjoying rubbing in his face that she had accomplished something while he hadn't. She stretched out a hand, revealing a yellowing envelope with the seal broken.

"What's that?" Velvet asked from behind his back, perking up her nose with curiosity.

"Read it. It's quite… fascinating."

Jaune retrieved the papers from within the envelope, and unfolded it, presenting the letter in a manner that all three of them could read at once.

" _Dear Headmaster Ozpin,_

 _I do not care how many safety nets you placed down, flinging your students off the top of the school buildings is NOT within Health and Safety Regulations, as Mr. Black surely agree. The poor boy is never walking again, and I'm sure you understand that not even the most prestigious academy of this nation is immune to scandal._

 _But I digress. This has not been the first infraction, and the Council's patience has run thin for your eccentricities and overall disregard for the wellbeing of your students. I am required to hereby communicate to you that Beacon's Peak Academy, along with its Talent Program, are to close its doors for good, effective at the end of the current school year, by official order of the Council of Vale._

 _We understand that a school as famed as yours will appreciate discretion, so we leave to your responsibility the communication with the public about these matters. I wish you the best of luck._

 _Respectfully,_

 _Councilwoman Glynda Goodwitch._

 _PS: Please refrain from addressing me as 'scrublord' in any further correspondence."_

"What... The school **closed**?""

"It couldn't have, we got acceptance letters."

"Unless they were fake." The terrorist answered Pyrrha while maintaining eye contact, her golden irises filled with certainty.

"You mean..."

"I mean that if we believe this, there are only two possibilities: one, this letter is old, and the school was closed without the public's knowledge, meaning the invitations we received were forgeries." She raised a finger in the air, ignoring their mortified reactions, and then lifted a second one. "Or two, this letter is recent, the school was about to close when we arrived, and in that case, we just found out the identity of who's behind this sick game."

"Who?"

"The headmaster, Ozpin. He would have the means and money to pull such a thing off."

Jaune pondered on those words, having no answer for them. The line of thought made sense, too much so. It felt like the clue was too easy, like it had been planted there for them to find. Could they really trust such a thing?

"The rest of the group should see this." Pyrrha's voice interrupted his thinking, and he nodded in agreement. There was nothing else for them in there, but maybe the rest of the class had more luck.

Velvet followed them outside, but the cat faunus decided to stay behind. Back in the hallway, the three of them ran into Emerald and Weiss leaving the classroom they had been inspecting. Apparently there had been nothing of worth inside, and he suspected Yang and Nora hadn't discovered anything as well, although they were nowhere to be found. The best hope they had of further clues was the grey door at the end of the second floor, and that was exactly where they moved to next.

Just as they were turning into the small alleyway where the door lied, Jaune was surprised to see the four that had been investigating that area exiting to meet them. Well, it was not their presence that was surprising, neither the extremely convenient timing or the fact that all of them had a wet glimmer on their hair, but what they were wearing, namely the two girls. Sun looked the same as always, the jean shorts and open white vest, and Ren had his well-toned body for display, wielding a pair of green shorts and a soft-pink towel around his shoulders, but the lucky student had already seen him in a state of undress before, so it did not come as a new experience. Neo and Ruby, however, were another case entirely.

The sharpshooter had a simple red skirt on, that cut off a little above her knees, but her legs weren't covered by the usual black thighs and boots, replaced only by a pair of summer sandals. Likewise, her red sweater was nowhere to be seen, showing a lot more skin than usual around the black bikini top she had on. The girl instinctively crossed her arms over her chest to cover herself when she noticed the approaching crowd. Neo didn't. The mute students was too wearing a bikini, lilac bottoms with an oddly appropriate pink and brown top, but no other form of clothing. She merely smirked at the newly-arrived batch of classmates.

Jaune tried his best not to stare, completely failing to recall why he had come there in the first place. Luckily, Weiss stepped in for him.

"What's going on here?" Her tone was slightly accusing, but at the same time curious.

"We found a pool." Ren spoke first.

"It's pretty damn cool, if you ask me." Sun placed his hands behind his head in a carefree manner.

"I didn't. Wait, are you telling me all of you went into the pool… at the same time?"

Ruby was the one to answer, still not taking her arms away from her chest. "There are separate changing rooms this time, so boys and girls can go in all at once."

"That's the second bath we find in two floors. Almost feels like someone is trying to send us a message." Pyrrha giggled at her own joke, quite adorably so.

"That's right, I am!" Monokuma came out from the glass door, bringing a megaphone in his little bear paw. He proceeded to raise the item to his bear mouth, and shout into it. " **TEENAGERS ARE SMELLY!** "

The class glared at him annoyedly, wishing his presence away with just their gaze.

"Fine, fine, I'll go." The bear back-pedaled into the door and disappeared.

"Anyway…" Sun shrugged his shoulders. "The changing room doors are unlocked using the Scrolls, just like the rooms. So, we shouldn't need to worry about anyone peeping."

"I bet that comes as a disappointment to you."

"Hey, Ice Queen, I'm a thief, not a creeper! Pretty big difference."

"What did you guys find?" Ruby changed subject, eager to see the age old confrontation stop.

Pyrrha retold most of what they had found, and Velvet provided the headmaster's letter for anyone that wanted to read it. The frowns and looks of confusion returned, the peace disturbed once again by the school's mysteries and schemes, but no one had anything to add. It was simply another puzzle for which they did not have all the pieces yet.

The crowd scattered, most of them returning downstairs to have dinner. Jaune gestured for Pyrrha to go on ahead without him, and went after Weiss, who, unlike the others, had opted to inspect the library. She was closing in on the entrance when he found the opening he was looking for.

"Hey, Weiss?"

The girl stopped, and he quickly jogged up to her. She faced him with an icy stare, not saying a word.

"I just wanted to say... You were really great at the class trial. Thanks for the help."

She waited silently for a couple of seconds, ensuring he had said all he wished to, and then finally addressed him directly.

"Look, Jaune, just because I saved your pitiful ass during the trial, that doesn't make us friends. My life would have been on the line too if the class voted wrong, that's all there is to it."

Jaune suppressed the instinctive recoil of his body at the hostility in her words. She wasn't just her regular cold and distant - she was purposefully pushing him away.

"So, are you done? I have places to go."

He nodded.

"Well then, try not to get yourself killed. I won't save you next time." Was that deeply masked care or merely pure unfiltered hatred? He simply couldn't tell.

The singer walked away from him, and her graceful figure disappeared from sight when she closed the large wooden door to the library. He stood in place, dumbstruck by the interaction that had just taken place.

"What did I do to deserve this?"

"Nothing." He turned, surprised at the sudden voice behind him, and saw Ruby standing just a little bit further from where he was. She strutted up to him with a compassionate smile. "She does that with everyone. She's so lonely that she thinks letting people in is a threat."

"Really? I thought it was because of my talent..." It was relieving in a way, although no amount of explanation would crush the feeling that she despised him more than the rest. "How do you know that?"

Ruby opened her mouth and closed it again, her cheeks turning red with embarrassment. After a little bit of pondering, she finally spoke. "I might know a thing or two ab-"

"There you are, little sis! Been looking all over for you."

Yang stomped her way to them, seemingly having come from nowhere, and stared at the two students with a toothy grin. "Sorry, am I interrupting something?"

"No, no, we were just about to head for the cafeteria." He never took his eyes off her fists as he hurriedly spoke. The last thing he wanted was to unleash Yang Xiao Long's fury, especially after witnessing firsthand how much hurt those hands could cause.

"Oh good, then you won't mind if I steal Rubes from you?" He was about to answer, but she brought a finger up to his face, cutting him short. "Trick question, I can't steal what is not yours. And she's not yours, got it?"

"Yaaaaaaaaaang..."

The boxer ignored her sibling and burst out laughing, pointing at the mortified look on Jaune's face. "Works every time!"

He quietly wondered why he seemed to be the butt of every joke in that school, but somehow felt more at ease than he had been since the trial. There was something soothing about their carefree chuckling, a sense of normalcy that had been stripped from them the moment they had awoken in that school. Given, being threatened by a powerful fighter wasn't exactly routine, but at least things were returning to how they were, and that was enough.

When the two sisters headed to dinner, he followed them, hoping that no more unpleasant surprises lied in wait. And just like always, his hope proved to be his downfall.

* * *

The dinner table had fallen quiet, but as soon as their bellies were full the ruckus started once again. The upper floor had been far from what they hoped, but it was undeniable that it brought along some new leisure options, and that was a win, despite the high cost demanded. Yang voiced her desire to try out the pool, and plenty of other voices came forth in agreement. Weiss seemed more interested in the opulent library, as was Blake of course, which was a storm just waiting to happen. Jaune, alongside Neo, Velvet and Emerald, didn't feel that much seduced by the new rooms, but he was happy to see the class healing. Maybe next time he would get something better, although he did not know yet that there would be a next time, or that it would come so soon.

"Aren't you all forgetting desert?"

At this point, nobody felt surprised by Monokuma's sudden appearances anymore. There was an overall sigh of discontent, but unlike before there was no attempt at resistance. They had seen what had happened to Yatsuhashi, and it was enough to dissuade them for good.

Well, there was one person among them who reacted wildly to the headmaster's entrance. Ren glared at the stuffed bear as if his light-ish red eyes could stab and tear the animal apart. They had eaten desert, it had been delicious, and how dare that monochrome toy suggest that the Ultimate Cook would forget any part of the meal. It was insulting to say the least.

"But we already had the desert..." Nora looked confusedly at Monokuma, although slightly intrigued by the mention of more food.

"No, no, no! I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about food for the soul!"

"Ice cream?" Neo raised her notepad.

"Ugh, just spill it out, Monodouche."

"Is that any way to treat... Ahem, nevermind. I have another prize for the lot of you lazy bums, one that you apparently forgot about."

"The letters from our families." Weiss spoke calmly and with certainty.

Jaune was suddenly struck by the realization that he had forgotten all about those letters. The bear had promised to give them the rest of the missives after the first murder, condition that had been met soon after, yet amidst the grief and confusion of the trial they had fallen from memory. He felt his anxiety spark, wanting to know what else his family had to say to him, but a part of him felt like maybe it would be better not to. Monokuma gifted with one hand and slapped with the other, whatever the reason from him doing this was, it probably wasn't good.

"Ding ding ding! You are correct! Unless, of course, you don't wanna know what your families back home have to say..."

"Of course, we wanna know!" Emerald's voice was loudly heard, always the first to boil.

"Just give us the damn things!"

"Upupupupu, fine, if you insist. Just remember, you asked for it." With that ominous warning, the plush threw a bunch of envelopes in the air, and the class sorted through them in a perfect mirror of what had come to pass the first time around.

Jaune opened his with shaking hands, reading it very carefully and slowly. When he was done, he read through it again, struggling to process the words inscribed in the paper. Of all the pranks and cruel jokes the bear had unleashed on them, this one had to be the worst.

 _"My dear Jaune,_

 _I'm so proud of you for getting accepted into Beacon. You've been searching for yourself for so long, for what makes you unique, and I know you'll find it there. We are rooting for you, you are the future of the Arc family. Above all, I'm glad to know you'll be out of harm's way in there._

 _Don't worry about us, we're doing fine. The bunker your father built is still strong as ever, and it will keep the radiation away from us. Turns out his post-war paranoia paid off, because of it we have water and food to last a whole year._

 _Your sisters miss you, but they understand that you're safe and that's what matters. I hope the school treats you well, and remember that a stranger is just a friend you haven't met yet, so don't be afraid to get along with your classmates._

 _Have fun. Be safe. Be good. Eat your vegetables._

 _Love,_

 _Mom."_

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

 **Students Alive - 12**

* * *

 **Next chapter will resolve that, and then we get more Free Time Events! You know the drill, vote for the three people you want Jaune to be spending time with, and I'll pick from the most voted.**

 **The poll is now closed.  
**


	7. Chapter 2-2

**I feel like I forgot to mention this here: all murder cases have been decided since the start, so voting in the polls will not influence them. Tbh I expected a bigger response in the poll - the follower count tripled since last time yet only 2 more people voted. Oh well.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2.2 - Consumed by Despair  
**

His eyes scrolled franticly through the text, but nothing about it seemed real. _"Radiation"? What are they talking about? Did something happen outside?_ He dug through his mind, but he simply couldn't remember anything that could explain those words, disaster or otherwise.

His head felt light and dizzy, disoriented as if the body around him wasn't his own. What was all that about? What had happened to his family? Were they okay? He had more questions than before reading the letter, and his omen about the headmaster's intentions had proven correct. His heart was thumping in his chest, threatening to burst out, his breath rugged and his stomach bubbling with nausea. He couldn't form a coherent word, the panic robbing his ability to think of anything other than the contents of that envelope.

The first thing he heard coming from out of his own head, a sound originating not from his anxiety, but from elsewhere in the room, was paper being torn and ripped to shreds. He glanced up and saw Weiss Schnee turning her letter into tiny insignificant fragments of white. Her face was frozen in an expression of dry anger, but he could still her livid skin betraying that semblance of composure.

"I take it you didn't like what you read, Ms. Schnee?"

"Nice try. If you think I'll believe a word of that nonsense you are sorely mistaken, bear."

"Huh? What do you mean? You act like I wrote it..."

"That's exactly what I'm saying! The Schnee family is strong and powerful, and you expect me to believe *that* is what's left of them? I refuse to listen to your lies!"

"She's right, this is bullshit!" Emerald joined in, her red eyes filled with rage.

"Are you sure about that? Haven't you wondered why you are trapped inside this school? The answer is right there in front of you, upupupupupu." The bear hid his mouth behind his paws, chuckling manically at their reactions.

"What?"

"Are you saying..."

"I'm saying the reason you are imprisoned inside the academy, why the windows are barred, is not to keep you from getting out. It's to keep what's outside from getting in." The room fell silent, as the animal toy laid all that exposition on them. "I mean the fallout from the bombs, of course. I'm sure your families mentioned something of the sort, but the outside world is... less than pleasant right now."

"Did he say bombs?"

"What's he talking about?"

"Did something happen?"

"I was planning on saving all of this for the final twist, but oh well, cat's out of the bag. This school is a bunker made to keep you safe."

"Safe from what?"

"Radiation, looters, you name it. The outside is a veritable wasteland since Atlas dropped a couple of nukes on Vale. It's ugly out there, upupupupu."

"What?"

"Why are we even listening to this? It's just another one of his lies!"

"Y-Yeah, it's all made up!"

 _Is it, though?_ Somehow, in his mind, it made sense, too much sense in fact. Why the windows were barred, no, isolated. Why no one had come to their help, not the police nor their families, despite them being inside for a whole week now, effectively kidnapped. Why that letter they'd found in the library had mentioned the school being closed, yet there they were. In some twisted way, the pieces of the puzzle fit together in his head, as in everyone else's despite the heavy denial happening.

"You don't believe me? You don't even believe the words of your own families, that you literally just read? Today's youth really is rotten to the core, so prideful that they can't accept the world for what it is. I'm doing you a favor by keeping you here!"

"You're making us kill each other!" Jaune exploded, joining the crowd in its anger.

"Hey, I didn't make you do anything! I merely provided an incentive, Ms. Adel is the one to blame."

He closed his mouth, boiling under the surface rather than outwards. It was true in a way, Coco had been the one to pick up the metaphorical knife, but that did not wash the blood on the bear's hands.

"It's not her fault!"

" _She was just worried about her family, she was a good person..._ Is that what you were going to say? The tone of scorn in the headmaster's voice was almost palpable from its intensity. " Excuses! She killed someone, and that's that! Wasn't Penny your friend? Robot lives don't matter, is that what you're saying?"

The murmur did not stop, but for a while none of them answered the stuffed toy directly. There was truth in his insane rhetoric, but admitting it was too painful. Coco had killed somebody, betrayed them. One of them had found the potential to do something so vile, how long would it be until another came across that very same dark impulse?

"Ahem." Blake cleared her throat loudly, prompting the bear to stop cackling manically, and the remaining students to turn their attention to her. "How long were we out?"

"Huh?"

"He said Atlas bombed Vale. If that had happened, we'd know about it, right? That is, unless we were unconscious, which makes sense considering none of us remembers how we got here."

"Upupupu how perceptive of you, Ms. Belladonna."

"So, I'm right?"

"Now, now. Don't expect me to give you all the answers, not yet at least. You'll have to live through a couple more trials if you want to know the whole story. Spoilers are no fun!"

The dark-haired girl backed off with a pensive expression, as if she'd been given much more information than what the rest of them had heard. More questions raised and no new answers only served to put the crowd in a further state of powerlessness. Voices were heard once again in protest.

"This is madness!"

"Bullshit, I refuse to believe any of it."

"SHUT UP!" Yang's voice roared above everyone else's, forcing the class into a sudden silence. Her face was distorted and mad, but there was a strange clarity in her lilac eyes. "Can't you see this is exactly what Monokuma wants? It doesn't matter if it's true or not, he's only doing it to break us."

"She's right." Pyrrha agreed from the back of the group. "We can't afford to be divided right now."

"Is that what you're choosing? To ignore the truth?"

"No, we're choosing to kick your ass!" The brawler didn't move to make good on her threat. "We'll beat your game and make it out of here, and then we'll find out if what you're saying is true or not."

"Well, look at you. Bold words, for a second you almost sounded like a protagonist there, blondie."

"Get. The fuck. Out." Jaune could almost see fire bursting out of her skin and hair, such was the overwhelming rage carried by those words.

"Fine. Kids can't even say thank you anymore, bunch of spoiled little brats." The headmaster stomped his little feet to the cafeteria door with a sullen expression, mumbling under his breath the whole time, only fragments of it distinct enough to be understood. "I bring them a treat... only complain... not even killing..."

When the large grey door closed, the class turned around from it, facing each other once more. There was doubt in their faces. Fear. They didn't know what to believe, who to trust. No one said a thing, until the silence was broken by the sound of sobbing.

Ruby fell down sitting on the floor, tears flowing freely out of her silver eyes. She looked like a fragile little girl, acting more like her age than she had so far.

The sudden outburst of emotion caught everyone unaware, but the sniper's sister acted before anyone else could, running to her side with unparalleled speed. She embraced the girl in her strong arms, stroking her back softly.

"Uncle Qrow..." The youngster spoke between sobs, failing to construct full sentences. "He can't be... He's all we..."

"It's okay, Rubes, I'm sure he's fine. That drunk bastard has survived worse."

 _Worse than nuking? What the hell does their uncle do for a living?_

"I'm scared..." That last part was just a murmur, but Jaune was narrowly able to hear it, and so did Pyrrha to his left, telling by her worried look.

"Don't worry, we'll make it through this. I'll get us out of here, whatever it takes."

He forced his eyes off the healing family, feeling like he was intruding in a private moment, and glanced at the other students still standing around the dinner table.

"So, we're just gonna ignore what Monokuma just told us?" Velvet timidly raised her voice.

"I mean, why the hell not? It's all lies anyway." Emerald put her foot down, signaling determination.

 _"Works for me."_ Neo agreed as well.

"But what about our families and friends? Don't you guys wanna know?" Sun looked a little less ready to abandon the notion, probably worried about those he had left back at home.

"I mean..."

"It doesn't make a difference right now." Ren was calm as ever, distressingly so. "Truth or not, we still need to find a way out of here. Nothing he said changes that."

"Yeah, Ren's right!" Nora pounded her fist on the table, making forks and knives fly everywhere.

"It does seem like the smartest plan." Pyrrha nodded with a subtle smile.

 _At least they're agreeing on something for a change._

"Then... Now what do we do?"

"Oh? Our great leader is asking for instructions?"

"Can you please stop calling me that, Nora?"

"Of course, whatever your highness desires." There was just no seriousness with her, was there?

No one laughed, the tension still all too present for any jokes to tear through. It felt like every night brought nothing but sorrow in that fateless school, from incentives, to deaths and trials, and now elaborate backstories.

They simply stood there for a while, watching minutes fly by into nothingness. Being idle was easier than dealing with all they'd been told, despite that very same idleness trapping each and every one of them in a spiraling whirlpool of doubt. The pact to pretend Monokuma's story hadn't been uttered aloud stayed in place, and it would remain that way for the foreseeable future.

As the group scattered, too consumed for any other evening activities, Jaune headed for his room, where he already knew no rest would await him. Even of his classmates has decided to pretend like nothing had happened, he still found it hard to get his mind off of it. How were his parents, and his sisters, doing? Why had Atlas decided to start a war with Vale? And why did the bear think that was the appropriate time to tell them all of it? What was he scheming this time?

The countless doubts were swallowing his brain, making it very clear that he was in for yet another sleepless night. He whimpered in silence, feeling his tired brain complaining about the overnight shifts it had to pull off so frequently, and laid on his bed, resigning himself to his fate.

* * *

 **DING DONG DING DONG**

 **"Gooood morning, everyone! It is now 8 am. Time to get up and face another day."**

Jaune groaned audibly, and got up. After over a week on the inside, the morning announcements were getting increasingly annoying. It wasn't just the repetition, or the fact that nothing good ever came from hearing Monokuma's voice. Somehow, it always felt like they were just a little too loud, tuned to perfection by the headmaster so that it was hardly possible to sleep through them. No, the students had to wake up at that hour, and they had to be miserable about it.

As he left the room, showered and freshly-clothed, the reminder of the previous night struck him like a walk of shame through a crowded street. He had succeeded in clearing his head of those intrusive thoughts for a solid fifteen minutes, but now they were back in full force. At the very least they kept him distracted from the tragedy of the class trial – but he would never realize that benefit.

The cafeteria was quiet, an atmosphere of stillness hanging over their heads. None of the students felt much like eating, and neither of them said a word, such was the price to pay for their pact to ignore the new information.

One by one, they left the premises after a very uneventful breakfast, failing to feel better about any of their circumstances. They would have to find solace elsewhere. Jaune found his in filling his free time with the company of someone else. It had brought him joy previously, so there was no reason it wouldn't do so now.

He was heading back to his room, wondering who to target this time around, when he saw Lie Ren exit as well, just the two of them in the white corridor. In a fit of impulse, he turned to the boy and engaged him.

"Hey, Ren."

"Hi, Jaune."

"Are you doing anything?"

"Not right now." _Dear Oum, man, throw me a bone here, I'm trying!_

"So, wanna do something?"

"Like what?" _AAAAAARGH!_

"I don't know... You picked last time."

"Exactly why it's your turn." _You are enjoying this, aren't you, you horrible person._

Before he could answer, a voice shouted out from a nearby corner. "Yeah, if you wanna take him on a date at least do it right!"

The blond looked confusedly around them, and just narrowly managed to spot an orange mane and two green eyes peeking out from the wall where the corridor turned towards the Laundry Room.

"Is that... Nora?"

"She does that..."

 _Peeking at you like a stalker?_ Jaune racked his brain trying to a way out, when his brain offered just what he was looking for. "Library!"

"Sounds good." The chef smiled as thanks, and they left the ginger behind, climbing to the second floor.

Only at the top of the stairs did he feel safe again from prying ears, and it was then that he decided there was more information he could get out of the dark-haired man on that matter.

"Is that normal? Nora, I mean?"

Ren shrugged "I wouldn't know."

"But why is she following you around like that?"

"She took a liking to me since we got stuck in this school, I guess. And she refuses to actually ask me out directly."

"That... doesn't make much sense. Have you tried talking to her about it?"

He did not get a response apart from an odd look. _Right, talking isn't really up your alley, is it?_

They made their way to the library, and walked inside. Silently, the two boys each walked up to a shelf and started looking at the options laying atop it. Jaune had already made up his mind that he wasn't going to find anything up his alley, but right now he had other plans. He hadn't come here alone, so his entertainment was not the most immediate concern. He slid a finger through the bookcase as his eyes peered through it, until he found the target of his search.

"Rordon Gamsey's _Ultimate Home Cooking_ , how does that sound?"

Lie Ren glared at him with his pink irises. He would have to get used to non-verbal communication if he was going to spend any more time with the cook. _I bet this is what hanging out with Neo feels like._ Regardless, it was evident that he was not going to get any proper reaction, unless he demanded it by force, so that was exactly what he did next.

"What? Too weak for your otherworldly talents?"

"Well, yes."

"I thought Ultimate talents meant you were the best at what you do _for a high schooler_ , not that you were the best in the world." Not that he would know, he was just a random talentless guy.

"Sure, but right now I'm cooking for other high schoolers. The bar isn't exactly set very high."

"We do eat pretty much anything, don't we?"

"And that's why I said I care more about nutrition than food. Watching all of you eat salted noodles for a week would drive me insane."

He laughed nervously, thinking back on his long and loving relationship with cup noodles. They were cheap and effortless to prepare, what else would he need?

"Is that what your family eats as well?" He recalled last time the boy mentioning that he had grown up with less than healthy meals.

Ren chuckled.

"No, they were much worse. I once caught them eating meat that was more raw than cooked."

"Oh, what the hell?"

"Exactly."

There was something bothering him, however, and not just the mental image of uncooked flesh. "You talk about them in the past tense, did something happen?"

The chef looked at him with a surprised expression. "They're still alive, as far as I know. The letter said as much too. I just don't live with them anymore."

"You mean before all this, right?" His companion waved his hand affirmatively, even if rather dismissive.

He did note a tinge of bitterness, or something of the sort, and thus decided not to continue questioning. He had already gotten quite the chunk of new information out of the boy, and in a way he knew him better now. Ren was definitely an interesting person, with an even more curious background, and a company he enjoyed.

Of course, there was more he wanted to know, to pry deeper, but maybe he'd get that change later. For now, he picked up the least-boring book he could find and sat down next to the dark-haired man. It would be an interesting test of his patience and perseverance, if nothing else.

* * *

Jaune closed the door to the library behind him, and paced by the hall. He was a tad sleepy, but otherwise happy. The 'date' with Ren had gotten his mind off the worries consuming him, leaving him lighter and liberated.

He was strolling by the door to one of the classrooms when something stopped him. You could say it was fate, or maybe his Luck talent telling him to, or maybe he heard something coming from within. The fact is, he pushed the entrance open and walked in.

In the classroom he found Yang Xiao Long sitting on top of the teacher's desk. Her legs were crossed, and her hands joined in what distinctly looked like a meditation pose. Her breathing was slow and steady, although her back was too upright to be sleeping.

The unremarkable boy thought twice about disturbing her, but curiosity took the best of him.

"Hey, Yang."

"Jaune. Looking for another ass-whooping?" She kept her eyes closed, speaking with a playful tone that was not at all threatening.

He pondered for a second, then shrugged his shoulders. "Sure."

"Oh, I... did not expect you to say that." As the boxer raise her head and stared at him, she appeared slightly thrown off balance by his response, which a weird way felt like an accomplishment to him. "Alright, let's go then!"

The boxer leapt out of the table and reached for her saddle bag lying on the floor after the first student desk. _Do you bring that thing with you wherever you go?_ Jaune was already regretting his decision. Sure, he had nothing planned, but he could find something else in a pinch, he didn't need to get beat up! Why was he even doing this, it was not like some transcendent cosmic entity had voted to force him into that company. Regardless, it was too late. Yang had taken his challenge, and all he could do was his best to survive.

She retrieved her gloves and the protections for him, but placed them on top of a nearby desk instead of handing them over. First, she took off her jacket, and then stretched her arms out, slowly rotating them backwards. Her joints cracked loudly with the gesture.

Noticing he wasn't moving, she scolded the misbehavior. "What are you waiting for?"

"What are we doing?"

"Stretching! Gotta get in shape before practice! Didn't we do this last time?"

"No…"

"Crap, did I forget? I mean, I do my stretches every morning after I wake up, but you need them too." Wait, was she doing it only for his benefit? That was… uncharacteristic of her.

He was forced into numerous stretching exercises, first his back, then knees, arms, shouders. By the time it was over he felt rejuvenated even if a little sore – and the exercising proper hadn't even begun. But above all, he was astonished. She did this every day, sometimes even twice? That was much more preparation than he'd envisioned the girl to do, especially when she usually came off as so hot-headed. This required premeditation, method.

"So." She gave him the protections, then slid the two yellow boxing gloves over her hands, and tied them in place. "What did you wanna know this time?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

She threw a punch at him, which he blocked with all his might. "I'm guessing you didn't come here to get beat up. Unless you're into that sort of stuff, you frickin' weirdo."

"No, I'm not..." He ducked to avoid the next hit, covering his face behind the protections.

"Which is why I assume you're looking for another Q&A. I did promise you juicier stuff after all." She stuck out her tongue playfully, but kept hacking away at him. "So, what do you wanna know?"

As soon as he opened his mouth, she cut him off. "And don't you dare ask the size of my bra. Juicy has its limits."

 _What the..._ "Is that something you get asked a lot?"

"You wouldn't believe..."

He had to admit, she was quite well-endowed, quite probably the bustiest of the girl in their class, but still, to outright comment on that in front of her... what kind of boundary-less person would think that was a good idea?

As she punched him once, and then twice, even behind the protective foam, he could feel that the topic needed changing post-haste.

"Well, maybe I just wanna get better a fighting." A white lie, even though not completely untrue. He did pity the fact that he was physically unremarkable, something that had not at all improved since being placed in the midst of so many apt and able teenagers.

"Oh? Looking for a few tips from the master herself?" The brawler cocked left fist back, but, when he had his eyes focused on it, struck him with the right one on the stomach. He could tell she was going easy on him, but it hurt nonetheless, where he was not protected by the foam.

While he whimpered, the purple-eyed girl took off her gloves and threw them at him. The two objects struck him in the face, before falling flat on the floor. He looked inquisitively at her, wondering the meaning of such action.

"Don't you want to learn? Well, come on, put them on!"

He did as he was told, taking off the protective gear and wrapping his fists inside the bright boxing gloves. It felt intrusive to be wearing the same gloves she used while training, like he was interrupting an intimate moment, but it also felt somewhat encouraging that she deemed him worthy to be donning them. That very same encouragement was promptly dampened, however, but noting the fact that she had tossed aside the forearm pillows he had stripped off. Clearly she didn't think he was a threat.

"Alright! First lesson is correcting your stance." She approached him, and pushed the inner part of his ankle outwards. "You want to have your feet wide apart, to give you more stability. Now raise your fists in front of your face."

She exemplified, and he mimicked her actions.

"Great. Punch me." Her balled hands stretched out, which he took as a target for his training.

Jaune threw his right arm to the front, colliding with her palm, and felt pain coursing from his knuckles all the way too his shoulder. How was he supposed to know she was so sturdy?

"Okay, here's what you did wrong. Don't cock your wrist back." She grabbed his wrist to illustrate the point. "Always keep your fist straight, or you risk spraining something."

"Next, you only moved your arm. A punch should use your entire body. It helps put more force into it, it avoids getting all the recoil in your shoulder blades, and it makes you less of a wide target. Got all, that?"

"I think so."

"Awesome, now do it again. Remember, step forward with the punch, stay mobile."

There was, as it turned out, a lot more to boxing than simply hitting things very hard. Not that he could hit hard at all, but he ended up spending nearly as much time punching as he did learning basic form and technique. Yang had dropped her jaw when she realized he had no self-defense whatsoever, and promptly showered him with tips on how to fend off attackers. Provided none of said attackers had the muscle mass she did, naturally.

It was both fascinating and jarring to him that she found all those things to be essential knowledge. She certainly had taught them to Ruby as well, meaning the young sibling was more outfitted to fight than he was, with or without a rifle. The feeling he had when spending time with any of his classmates returned, that peculiar sensation that they lived in completely different planets, that his plain and unremarkable life was so removed from the worlds in which the talented inhabitted. Sure, they weren't the boogeyman he had made them out to be, time and again he was proven to that teenagers were teenagers regardless of skill level, but he still felt inferior, mostly just like he had been missing out all his life. There were incredible, and led incredible lives, and just being with them, hearing their tales and living vicariously through them, it was a rush of energy he never knew existed.

After a while, he had no way of telling how long, he found himself lying on the floor, panting. She had worked him to the bone, even harder than last time. It was unbelievable how idiotic he could be for having accepted her challenge. He didn't even feel stronger. If anything, he felt weaker, like every muscle in his body had died.

"You must really love this to do it every day."

She laughed. Not just a chuckle too, but full blown laughter that filled the whole room. Of all his classmates, that was something only her could do: laugh with such abandon. It was contagious, all of her was.

"It gets less painful with practice, you know?" _Oum, I hope so._ "And after a while, it gets… I don't know, addictive. The rush, the adrenaline, being in the ring with someone else, watching their moves and trying to find a way to beat them, there's no feeling like it. You have to react fast, think fast, so much happens in just a couple of seconds. It's amazing."

"Sure sounds nice." _Being strong._

"Having these beautiful guns doesn't hurt either." She touched her biceps tenderly. "Keep this up for another month and you might have some of your own too. Imagine all the ladies you could get, huh? Or dudes, I don't judge. Hell knows I can't…" She coughed conspicuously.

 _A month?!_

"Do I get a question now?"

"Sure, man. After that workout, I'll give you three." Yang chuckled again.

"Why were you here? I meant to ask, not the best place for a workout."

"I come here to meditate. Classrooms are good for that, not a lot of people come by. Especially not these ones on the second floor."

"Meditate? I didn't know you did that…"

"I build up a lot of adrenaline when I'm fighting. Mediation helps cleanse all that stuff out, and clears my head. The thrill is awesome, but managing it, not being consumed by it, is also very important. Also, try to sleep after a whole day of power-training, and then we'll talk."

"Never thought of it that way,"

"Of course not, small padawan. You still have much to learn." She threw a bottle of water, striking him square in the forehead. _Great, because the rest didn't ache enough_ "Drink that, it'll help."

He obeyed.

The other two question ended up being wasted, but it was okay – he already had quite the fill of learning for one day. Yang sure was a box full of surprises, and no doubt there would be more some other time. For now, he needed to get some food in his system, and then a bed was looking increasingly seductive.

* * *

Jaune pretended not to hear the morning announcement, and went to have breakfast. Spirits seemed to be higher that day. Sun and Nora had a competition over who could catch the most grapes with their mouth in a row, prompting a little display that was only mildly disgusting. Pyrrha chatted with Weiss, who was strangely responsive that day. Blake bothered no one, as did Emerald, while Neo gleefully checked the photos in the memory of Velvet's camera. Ruby, however, seemed more quiet than usual. Apparently, she still wasn't quite feeling up to speed after her breakdown two days before.

It was with that in mind that, after the meal was over, he decided to track down the sharpshooter. His mood had greatly improved since, by the merit of Ren and Yang, and he wished to do the same for her. Despite them not being that close, he still felt affected by her sadness. Ruby was a joyous girl, and he wanted to return her to that state as much as he could.

She entered the dressing room for the sauna, just across from the cafeteria. He went after her. Which was a mistake.

As soon as his foot touched the inside of the changing room, all nearby monitors – one inside, and two in the corridor – turned red.

" **PERVERT ALERT! PERVERT ALERT!"**

Ruby turned around, halfway through removing her hoodie, and saw him. Evidently, she screamed. It was all downhill from there.

"What's that noise?" Yang showed up, that was when he realized he was a dead man.

The blonde woman took a second to register what the monitors where yelling, and then stared at him with confusion in her eyes.

"What did you-"

"Yang? Is that you?"

As soon as she heard her little sister's voice, her face turned red and murderous.

"Jaune…" She spoke very slowly, almost as if she was containing every word from being screamed and stabbed into his flesh. "What were you doing to my sister?"

"Nothing, I…"

"Were you peeking on her?"

"No, I was just…"

Yang breathed in deeply, closing her eyes, completely immobile. He decided not to wait for what was coming next.

Jaune sprinted off into the distance as fast as his legs would take him, adrenaline pumping into his blood for that extra edge. He dared not look back, terrified of what he'd see closing in on him. Crossing the entirety of the red hall with the rooms, taking the long way around, he skipped past his own door, only realizing the mistake after it was already too late. Continuing along, he came across the little alley before the cafeteria, and in a fit of madness he turned towards it.

The luckster reached the door in the middle of it, and twisted the knob, practically leaping inside. He slammed the door shut behind his back, and breathed out in relief, celebrating his victory a little too early.

"Hiding from someone?"

He looked up, and was surprised to find Blake in the storage room with him, sitting on top of a pile of cardboard boxes, together with her faithful book.

"Yang. She thinks I was peeking on her sister in the bath..."

"Were you?" Somehow, he felt like there was an unspoken threat looming over that question.

"No! It was just a misunderstanding, I'm innocent! Not that _she_ wants to hear any of it."

"That's rough, buddy."

"What about you?"

"Sun."

"Seriously? He seemed like a cool guy."

"Oh, he is, really. But every now and then, a little time to one's self is very much appreciated." She nonchalantly flipped a page.

"Then why aren't you in your room? Wouldn't that be the most private place possible?"

She waved a hand to gesture at the space around them. "My room has a doorbell. A very loud one. This one doesn't."

"Ah, right... I guess having an extra pair of ears has its disadvantages, huh?"

The raven-haired girl chose not to react, focusing on the pages in front of her eyes. Even Jaune, in all his occasional cluelessness on matter of behavior, could tell it was a clear signal to leave her alone.

He slowly peeked out into the hallway, hiding most of his face behind the safety of the wooden door. It seemed safe, empty. Well, except for...

"JAUNE AAAARC, WHERE ARE YOU? I WILL FIND YOU!"

He quickly retreated inside and sealed the entrance, profusely sweating from nothing more than adrenaline. He hadn't seen her, which meant she probably hadn't seen him either, but the danger was still very much present.

"Welp, I guess I'm stuck here." The boy hadn't meant for Blake to hear those words, but he underestimated the reach of her enhanced hearing. She sighed deep and loudly.

"This is not my problem." She stated in a rather dry tone, closing the book she had in her hands and leaping away from the stacked boxes. Her golden eyes were unamused as she made for the exit.

"What? Wait, no, don't leave me here alone! What if she finds me!"

The cat faunus stared at him with an expression that could only be described as a mix between soul-crushing annoyance and bewilderment. "Are you serious?"

"I mean, you have... *combat experience*." His voice was pleading and high-pitched, just a teensy bit panicky.

"You're more afraid of Yang Xiao Long than *me*?"

"...yes?"

She took her hand off the door handle, and her ears twitched with curiosity, although her face didn't change. "I don't get it."

"Don't get what?"

"You know who I am. You know the talent that got me into this academy. How can you not be afraid of me?"

"I... don't know. You just seem like a nice person." Blake snorted in a very uncouth manner. "What, am I wrong?"

"Very." She paced to her previous spot, climbing atop the pile again.

"Why? I mean, you can't have done something so bad that..."

"What part of terrorist do you not understand? Believe me, I've done plenty of horrible things. Too many..."

Jaune swallowed dryly. Every sentence he uttered only seemed to make that conversation harder and more awkward. He was learning about her, but it was getting hard to savor that new knowledge.

"You helped us solve Penny's murder." He ignored the stinging that sentence still left in his heart.

"And you think that is enough to atone for the things I've done?" *Can you be a little less emo?*

"No! I mean... I don't know what you did, but... well, that's exactly it: I've never seen you do anything, like, evil or anything. All I know is you helped us."

Blake's lips contorted oddly, almost like she was trying to smile but was not yet fully convinced.

"Weiss Schnee helped too. Does that mean you trust her as well?"

"I... What is your issue with her? Did you two know each other before coming here?"

"Not personally, no. But we knew *of* each other. The Schnee family is known for employing unsafe and slave labor, their fortune was built on the backs of our people. That made them a target for the Fang."

"It sounds a little more personal than that. She *really* hates you."

The dark-haired faunus looked down, in a distinct expression of shame, and her furry ears laid flat against her head. He immediately regretted the question, sensing the can of worms he had just opened.

"We... They..." She hesitated on what pronoun to use for the circumstance. "Her brother, Whitley Schnee, was killed by the White Fang."

"Oh..." What else was he supposed to say?

"We had been hitting their shipments, robbing some and destroying others. Jacques Schnee thought we wouldn't dare to touch his son, so he sent him to escort one. He was wrong... I didn't pull the trigger myself, but it's not like I stopped it either."

He stood there in utter silence. There was no reasonable way he could ever answer that. Maybe he was a prick and he had it coming? He didn't know that. Maybe it wasn't Blake's fault, and she needed to stop blaming herself? He didn't know that either, and there was a chance she was very much to blame, or that she had killed others herself. He was afraid of delving too deep into that matter, not knowing what he'd find out. And so he stayed quiet, for lack of a better option.

"I've already said too much." The terrorist left her perch and, like a feline, dashed to the door. "I'm... sorry I dropped all of this on you."

He stretched his hand out to stop her, but she was too quick, and had already disappeared through the door.

Jaune was about to give chase when he heard a familiar voice coming from the hall.

"Oh hey, Blake! Have you seen Jaune?" So, the blonde was still after his blood. That was... unfortunate, to say the least.

"I think he said something about going to the library."

"Thanks!" He thanked her too, while still cowering inside the room.

"Hey, Yang? Don't go too rough on the poor guy."

"Nah, I just like putting the scare in him. It's just a little too easy." He heard the Ultimate Boxer chuckle, and then run off.

Feeling that the coast was already clear, he left the storage room. Blake had vanished for good, but he had managed to learn I great deal about her, a great deal that he wasn't sure how to feel about. Some people just lived in a world so removed from the little bubble he inhabited that it was impossible to understand their struggles and inner turmoil.

There was something off about her, something he had yet to figure out. Maybe another time he would get there. But that would have to wait for another day.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

 **Students Alive - 12**

* * *

 **So yeah, no one dead yet. Next one will still be deling with FTEs, there are more than usual this time. I just wanted to get this one out before the v4 finale tomorrow. THE HYPE IS KILLING ME.**

 **Also, please leave a review if you can. I know I say this every chapter, but it really helps. Even if you don't have much to say, just a couple of words can do a great deal to power me up to write the next one.**


	8. Chapter 2-3

**Just noticed on this fic's view chart that the first and latest chapter have A LOT more views than the investigation and trial chapters. It's almost like people read the lighthearted parts and then skip the deaths.** **How fascinating...**

* * *

 **Chapter 2.3 - Prisoner of Despair**

 **DING DONG DING DONG**

 **"All Beacon students are called to Gymnasium immediately. Failure to show up will be met with severe punishment."**

Jaune's head started racing, realizing what that announcement meant.

It was time for another incentive.

Quickly, he made his way to the designated place, running into Emerald and Ren on the way, who looked just as worried as him. The three of them barged into the gym, and found that the rest of the class was already there. Nobody wished to be late and find out what severe punishment meant, especially after seeing what had happened to Yatsuhashi. Besides, as much as they would want to ignore an incentive, their lives could depend on it.

Tension built up as the twelve survivors waited impatiently for the headmaster's appearance. It was taking just a little too long, enough to make them wonder if the lateness was on purpose. He looked around, seeking some form of comfort, but found none. Every Pyrrha seemed to be nervously avoiding his gaze.

"You're all here. My, my, I'm impressed."

The monochrome toy appeared from behind them, forcing the group to disperse so he could pass. He leaped towards the stage, almost comically not making the jump, and after wiggling a bit stood back up next to the podium and looked at them."

"So, kiddos, let me cut to the chase: I'm getting bored here, it's about damn time you killed someone else. For that reason, I'm giving you another incentive." The class voiced their displeasure loudly and all at once, but the bear ignored then and kept talking. "This time I decided to do something different."

Monokuma kicked the stand, which fell over as if it was made of cardboard. Behind it was revealed a wooden chest, encasing some kind of unspeakable booty within. When the stuffed mascot tapped the lid, they almost expected a monster to jump out of it.

"Alright, let's see who's first. Hmmm... How about... Ruby Rose?" He pointed his fuzzy fingerless hand at the red-hooded girl.

"Huh?" She froze in place, too afraid to move."

"Yes, you! Come over here, chop chop!"

The crowd moved away to give her space to obey. She walked tentatively forward, until she was by the stage, and waited for further instructions.

"Okay, now the second one... Pool Noodle, what about you?"

It took Jaune a moment to remember who the headmaster's nickname referred to. He swallowed dryly and moved to Ruby's side.

Monokuma turned his back on them, and opened the chest, leaning inside. They tried to peek inside, but it was hard to see over the bear's side. He then hummed eagerly, and stood back up. In his hands was a pair of handcuffs.

"What the..." Before the blond boy had time to react, the mascot was already upon him. There was a metallic clank coming from below, and when he looked down there was a shackle wrapped around his wrist.

Ruby shrieked loudly. The twin to his cuff was wrapped around her wrist too, binding them together through a chain that was not more than a meter and a half long. They traded a panicked glance, just now realizing what this meant.

"I now declare you husband and wife."

"You can't do that!" "Let me go now!" They both yelled at the same time, their voices becoming a incomprehensible mess. The rest of the class was completely silent, waiting to see where the show would take them.

"I'm joking! What kind of sick person would want to kill their spouse? No, I want you to think of each other as prisoners."

"What?"

"You are bound to one another until someone dies. The key to your freedom is right in front of you, you just have to get it **by force**." After the explanation, Monokuma resumed his manic cackling.

"MONOKUMA, I SWEAR-" Yang began trotting forward, positively fuming in rage, but she was interrupted by the animal.

"I have one for you too, Blondie."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, did you think only those two got it? Everyone is getting cuffed, that's the incentive of today!"

The general murmur set in once again.

"So, Miss Xiao Long, since you're so eager, come on over. And for you I have... Blake Belladonna!"

Jaune and Ruby moved away from the stage and from each other, momentarily forgetting they were bound. The pull of the chain on both their wrists reminded them, however, and they ended up leaving towards the same direction.

Yang and Blake took their place, and received a similar treatment. After them came Weiss and Pyrrha, then Ren and Sun - to Nora's great dismay, who herself was tied up to Emerald. Velvet and Nora were the last of the bunch.

"Now what?" Emerald stared bewildered at the handcuff in her hand, posing her question to the air more than to someone in particular.

"What do you mean now what? Now you kill each other!" The headmaster's furry face grew red with impatience.

"Why would we kill if we're stuck in pairs? That would make it too obvious." Blake sounded calm, even too much for her usual demeanor.

"Yeah, we're not going to kill anyone!"

"What a stupid idea!"

"You really fucked up this time!"

Monokuma grinned. "Oh, is that so? Well, just remember: Those cuffs aren't coming off until another murder happens. That means meals, sleeping, even going to the bathroom!"

"What..."

"Is he serious?"

"We can't even pee?"

"Have fun, kiddos! Upupupupu" With that greeting, he took off, never ceasing to laugh all the while.

The room was left in complete disarray. Everyone seemed to be panicking to some degree, offset by the prospect of being shackled to another human being for an indefinite amount of time. Despite all they'd been through, and all the trials that were still to come, the degree of trust and comfort required to be okay with that situation was hardly achievable. As much as Jaune appreciated Ruby's company, this was obviously too much.

"I can't believe this!"

"What are we going to do?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Weiss Schnee spoke up, but ice-blue eyes were shut off. Whether that was meant to shield her emotions or display how much she cared for their petty existences, it was hard to tell. "We keep living as normal."

"Easy for you to say, you're tied up to another girl."

"Do you want to commit murder?" She was completely devoid of expression as she uttered those words. "Because if you don't want to adapt, that's the only choice you have left."

Before anyone could answer, the singer touched Pyrrha's arm for just a fraction of a second, and when the redhead nodded, they departed without looking back. Well, Weiss did not look back, Pyrrha couldn't avoid one last worried glance back.

However crude or harsh, they knew she was right. They were either willing to kill, or had no choice but to submit to the new order. The hard part was accepting it.

One by one, the pairs starting leaving as well, as there was not much else to be done at present. There was a strange aura hanging above their heads, a dark cloud that predicted the incoming storm. Jaune and his new partner too began crossing the way outside, but a hand grabbing his arm, pulling him back and the sniper along with him.

He turned back, and found the Ultimate Boxer staring him directly in the eyes, with Blake behind her looking away with an uninterested look.

"If something happens to her, I'm holding you personally responsible."

"Yaaaaaaaang!"

He nodded imperceptibly, to signal he understood the message. They had just received a reason to kill, and even if she didn't actively doubt him, there was a danger lurking that all of them had to be very careful about. It was not about his personal value, but the safety of someone Yang cared deeply about."

"I still get to act like your older sister, little miss!" The shift to a playful tone was almost immediate. The brawler and her dark-haired companion took to the exit, but not before one last quip. "And no pervy stuff, Jaune!"

"I told you that's not what happened!"

She threw out her tongue, before disappearing through the door.

Left alone, Jaune sighed, and faced Ruby. "I guess we're stuck together, huh?"

"Yep, looks like it."

"So... what do you wanna do?"

"Second date?"

 _Oh, not this again!_ "We didn't have a first one, remember?"

"Pfffft, of course we didn't!" Ruby proceeded to wink at him in the most conspicuous way possible.

He sighed inwards. There was nowhere to run, not with those cuffs binding them. For a lucky student he sure had a troubled relationship with fate.

 _I guess there are worse people I could be stuck with..._

"So, where should we go this time?" She was bouncing on the ball of her feet, practically jumping up and down with excitement. Jaune had to admit, it was pretty cute. "We already did the AV Room... The gym doesn't have anything to pass the time, and the library would be a little too... OH, I know, we could go to the gift shop! It's almost like a carnival, right?"

He could almost hear her say 'and carnivals are romantic' in her head, but at least for once she didn't say it out loud. _Funny, I didn't know she had a filter._

Without warning the short girl turned away from him and started running, forcing him to sprint goofily while trying to keep up the pace, the chain dragging him by the wrist.

"Ruby... Slow down..."

"Come on, slowpoke! Stop wasting time!"

 _We're chained to each other, we have nothing but time!_ Luckily the gift shop wasn't too far, because he barely managed to stay on his feet the whole way. What was even her deal with running around?

The lucky student had forgotten what the inside of the gift shop looked like, having only peeked inside once and not paid it much attention. It was a cramped room, the walls covered from top to bottom in colorful memorabilia. It didn't even look like it was all from Beacon, but more like a collection of souvenirs from all over Remnant.

"Why would a school even have a gift shop?" He only realized he had said it out loud when he saw a pair of silver eyes staring at him in confusion.

"Huh? Now that you mention it, it does seem weird."

He reached his hand out to a pin Beacon Academy pin that was on the wall. In another life, he would've been ecstatic to see one, or even be able to wear it, a medal awarded only to those with great talents. That was what his life back at home felt like, a distant dream that he would never find again. They hadn't been there for that long, but the place had a way of seeping into one's mind, festering and taking over everything else.

"Hey, that looks like a gum machine!"

Ruby pointed at a large round glass ball on top of the store counter. It encased in it a lot of colorful plastic balls, and had a small mechanism below that seemed to be the way to operate it. Before he could even react, the girl was already inspecting it up close and touching all the buttons.

"Doesn't it need coins to work?"

"Aww, I guess you're right." She ogled the little slot where change would go in, making a little pout. However, it only took a second for her eyes to sparkle again. "Hey, what's that?"

He followed the direction of her finger to the top of the machine, and there it was: a round copper-colored coin just waiting for them. He moved to grab it, and looked at it up close. It had a little bear on its face, on both actually, featuring that same twisted smile they were all too familiar with. After everything, the fact that the headmaster had manufactured his own currency wasn't even surprising anymore.

"And they say I'm the lucky one. How did you even see it, it's so tiny?"

"Special eyes, remember?" She tapped a finger to her temple, and then nabbed the coin from his hand. "Besides, maybe I only found it because you were here with me, transmitting your luck."

"Yeah, right." Jaune played it off as a joke, but it was strangely uplifting. "Wanna do the honors?"

The sharpshooter slid the tiny disk into the slot, and the machine sprung to life, lighting up and playing a eerie 8-bit tune. She punched the button, and the whole thing wobbled before spitting a red ball that fell on the floor.

She picked it up with an eager smile, which soon died down as she opened the spherical box. Inside the prize was a black leather whip, rolled up to fit the small space it had been given. On the side of the handle was a red rose engraving adorning it.

"Oh…"

"I mean… It has a rose on it… Like your name..." The tiny room felt so unbearably heavy all of a sudden.

"Yeah, but it's so…" Jaune at least was glad he didn't have to explain to her what that thing would be used on. He would rather not even think about it himself.

The girl put down the tasteless offering on top of the counter, and sighed heavily.

"Hey, huh... You okay?"

"I think I'll survive that terrible gift, Jaune." She jested, but there was something about her face, something disconcerting.

"Are you sure? You know you can talk to me, right?"

Ruby looked him deep in the eyes with a glimmer of uncertainty, and opened her mouth despite not saying anything with it. After a couple of moments trying to gain courage, she finally spoke.

"I know we aren't supposed to say anything about those letters, but... Do you think they're real?"

"I don't know. I hope not."

"But there's a chance."

He sighed. "There is. We don't really know much about the outside, someone made sure we were well isolated."

The youngster fell silent.

"You're worried about your uncle, aren't you?"

She nodded, looking down at the floor. It was unbelievable how fragile she could seem in contrast to her usual energetic and delighted self.

"What's he like?"

"Drunk. But not like a violent drunk, or anything!" She hurried to add when he visibly cringed at the earlier statement. "He's cool, never laid a finger on us."

"But he is like drunk all the time? How is that even possible?"

"Yang says he's a 'hair of the dog' kind of guy, whatever that means." Jaune didn't know either, but he wasn't about to admit it. "He evens as a little flask he carries around, like in the movies. Although now that I think of it, that have anything in it, not just alcohol... Nah, his breath always stinks, it's gotta be."

He laughed internally at the rambling girl, glad that the topic had managed to distract her from her worries. For some reason, he figured that was often the case with her - sorrow buried under all of that spark. Whatever the case, for now she was fine, and maybe she would stay that way for a while.

"What does he do for a living?"

"...I don't really know."

"Sorry?"

"I think he's like a spy or something, but he never actually tells us. I just know that he works with guns, goes out on missions for weeks in a row, and never answers when I ask him."

"Wow, that's... wow."

"I know, right? So cool!"

 _That's not the word I would've used..._

They scoured the place for more coins they could use in the machine, but found none. The length of the chain proved to be quite bothersome, even in such a small area. The constant push and pull from the wrist was slowly wearing his patience, but he knew that was what the bear was counting on - for one of them to snap.

The search ended, after much time had passed, with a faint roar coming from Ruby's stomach, putting an embarrassed expression in her face. "I guess it's time to head for dinner, huh?"

"I guess..."

* * *

There was only one other pair of shackled students in the cafeteria. Nora and Emerald were sitting at the empty table, in what seemed like some form of blood ritual. There were two lit candles and a trail of red dust forming a circle between them.

The Ultimate Lucky Student looked at his partner with uncertainty. "Should we..."

"I'm curious, but... Let's not."

On cue to avoid forcing them into interaction, the door opened and inside came something very strange. Not strange at first, of course, it was something they were very used to seeing, but the kind of strangeness that slowly creeps on you, building up until the realization strikes with full force. In any other day, it would have been normal, but not today.

Ren walked into the cafeteria, and closed the door behind him. He walked past them, and up until the table, where he saw the red circle and stopped.

"I told you the spices aren't toys, Nora." He looked somewhere between disappointed and amused, although not much feeling passed through his face.

"Em is doing a ritual to..."

Ruby was the first to call it out, dragging Jaune with her closer to the other classmates. "Where is Sun?"

Emerald's red eyes widened in the realization. "Did you..."

 _No, that can't be right. Ren wouldn't... There has to be another explanation._

"He's still alive, don't look at me like that."

"Then where are your handcuffs?"

The response to that most relevant questions did not come from the chef, but from the entrance to the cafeteria, making all the students turn around at once.

"Pffffffft as if some silly handcuffs could stop me." Sun was smiling smugly, holding a pair of open shackles in his hands as if they were the prize of a winning hunt.

 _Does everyone in this school have to make dramatic entrances?_ "You... unlocked them?"

"Yep, they don't call me the Ultimate Thief for nothing. That silly lock was no match for my mad skills."

"And it didn't occur to you to tell the rest of us?" That took the shit-eating grin off his face.

"Oh, yeah... I guess I should've, huh?"

Nora practically jumped off her chair. "That means you can get this off us too?"

"You backstabbing wretch." Emerald feigned being offended, but with not too much effort being put into it."

The monkey faunus walked up to them and grabbed the chain. "I can, but should I? I hear you've been a very bad girl..."

"Guys, please..." Ruby pleaded for the constant innuendos to stop, and Jaune found himself agreeing. They always took it just a little too far.

Sun retrieved a pair of lockpicks from his shorts' pocket and started to work on breaking through the chain binding the two girls. Not before long there was a loud clank, and the cuff around Nora's wrist opened, falling on the floor with quite a ruckus. He then moved over to Emerald's, and the same happened.

Ruby got in line next, and Jaune went along with her. While the semi-naked scoundrel was doing his own magic, Weiss and Pyrrha joined the cafeteria.

"What's going on here?"

The blacksmith raised her fists in the air with overjoy. "FREEDOOM!"

"Wait, you can open the handcuffs?"

"Not so villainous after all, huh?"

The ivory-haired girl grimaced, but did not retort, kept from such by her pride. That, of course, did not stop the thief from being all smug about it, a smile of victory permanently on his face as he released Jaune, and then moved on to the two newcomers. He did not tease her further, however, which was probably wise on his part. Velvet and her partner came in not long after, when Ren was already starting to bring platters of food to the table. The rabbit faunus voiced her surprise for how easy it had been to bypass the mastermind's plans, and Neo… well, she said nothing as would be expected. Nevertheless, they both accepted the treatment, and the sweet taste of liberation.

Yang and Blake were the last to arrive, but those two had quite a different reaction than the rest thus far.

"Wow, what the heck is going on here?" The blonde barged in through the door, and took almost no time in realizing what was wrong. Behind her, they could see Blake mentally count the total of students, trying to figure out who had died.

"Sun can pick the lock on the handcuffs!" Ruby leaped in excitement, wanting to share the good news with her dear sister.

Her dear sister, however, did not seem to overjoyed. "He can?"

"I thought you'd be more excited." Sun almost looked hurt by the way she asked that question. Blake was the one to clarify.

"Are we sure that's a good idea?"

"What?"

"Of course it is!"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Monokuma. What do you think will happen when he finds out you all broke free?"

"Huh… Hadn't thought of that."

Yang stood by her partner's position. "She's right. In hostage situations, it's usually safer to collaborate with the criminal."

"So what? You want us to kill each other? Is that the kind of collaboration you're suggesting?" Weiss raised her voice, precisely striking at the vulnerability in her opponent's argument.

"Of course not. But maybe we should stay cuffed for now." Blake spoke confidently and the blond nodded, it almost seemed like the two had discussed it at length during their time alone.

"And I think you should do the same, Ruby."

"But I don't wanna sleep with Jaune…"

Sun did not let the opportunity slip by. "Ha, sucks to be you, man."

"I'm not gonna force you or anything. It's your call." Yang pretended no to hear the joke.

They ended up switching seats around to accommodate the two girls who refused to be unshackled from each other, and had dinner together. No one touched the subject again, and the usual cheer returned in no time.

After the meal was done, Pyrrha volunteered to help Ren with the laundry, and they started to get up to leave. Blake, however, stayed put, and called out for the monkey faunus.

"Hey, Sun? Can we have a word?"

The boy looked at her, and at the other woman sitting by her side, and shrugged. "Sure."

"I smell a threesoooooome!" Nora laughed boisterously as she left the room.

* * *

Having nowhere to go, he idly strolled through the hallway, moving very slowly onwards back to his room. He didn't exactly want to go to sleep yet, but what other option was there?

"Hello, Jaune."

His head followed the source of the sound, and found Pyrrha standing a few feet behind him. She was wearing her golden t-shirt and red shorts, the casual outfit for when she did sport-y things, and was holding in her hands a long black sports bag.

"Oh, hey Pyrrha. Weird to see you without _her_ around."

"It was only one afternoon..." Sure, it hadn't lasted long, but he had kept his distance as much as possible. For every ounce of enjoyment he took from the redhead's company, the constant glaring from Weiss took away in equal measure. Also, his hands had been quite full with Ruby's sugar-driven madness.

"So, huh..."

"Would you..."

As luck would have it, they spoke at the same time, and then immediately stopped talking, each waiting for the other to continue the sentence. It would have been endearing, if it didn't look so mind-numbingly idiotic.

"Please, you go first."

"I, huh... had nothing to say." He rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed by the confession. "You?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to join me for a swim."

"Now? Isn't it kinda late?"

"Nighttime shouldn't be for a while, but if you don't want to it's okay." So she said, but he could tell she _wanted_ him to go.

"No, sure, why not?" He smiled at her, and she beamed back in glee. "Let me just go grab a towel and a swimsuit."

He headed to his room, noticing that she was following him closely. In fact, she was still staring at him intently as he prepared to enter the bedroom, almost like she wanted something.

"Do you... want to come inside?"

"Thank you." The way she looked at him... Was that her intention all along, or was she just pressuring him to get ready hurriedly? He couldn't tell, that woman remained a complete mystery to him.

She followed him inside, and waited patiently while he went into the bathroom to fish for his swimming gear. It took a little longer than he expected, he hadn't exactly left the place tidy and spotless, or perhaps it was just the fact that Pyrrha was waiting distorting his perception of time. He made a little victory noise when he finally found the prize he sought, and left back into the room.

"I should dust this place, huh?" She was facing away from him when he appeared, and was slightly startled by his sudden voice.

"I don't think it looks _that_ bad." Now, she was just lying out of kindness, and he knew it. What other reason could she have to be staring at that side of the room? There was nothing in there that would interest her, just the bedside table, the monitor on the wall, and his bed. "Is that… a little bunny on your towel?"

He followed the direction of her finger straight to the outline of a rabbit in his bath towel, feeling his cheeks burn up immediately.

"Yeah, I mark my stuff to make sure I don't lose it. It's silly, I know." He thought of telling her about his shoes, but reconsidered, the current level of embarrassment was more than enough.

"Well, I think it looks adorable. Are you ready to go?" She walked to the exit, and he took off behind her. The two quickly made their way to the entrance to the pool on the second floor.

When he went past the stained-glass door, it hit him that he still had never been there.

The area they were in at the moment seemed to be some sort of an antechamber. It wasn't large, but there was also very little inside it: a couple of shelves packed with pool gear, foam boards and the like; a camera and a monitor, as always; and two doors, one marked with a little sign for Men and the other for Women.

His lean companion was already accessing the changing room, oblivious to his confusion, so he decided to repeat after her. The door had an electronic lock, requiring his Scroll to unlock. Monokuma was certainly invested in keeping their privacy sacred.

Walking into the changing room, he shallowly inspected that new place. It was all tiled in white, and was divided in two areas by a wall across the middle. On one side there was a row of curtainless showers, on the other were some benches disposed in a square and some hangers on the walls.

 _So much for the privacy_. He complained, but with only two other boys in the school, there wasn't much threat of being intruded on when inside.

Approaching one of the lockers, he opened it with the intention to store there the clothes he was about to remove, and was surprised to find a whole arsenal of training gear in there, from weights to flexibility bands. He checked the one to the side, and the other after that one. It would seem all lockers had been outfitted with such gear.

 _Yang would probably love this._ He could almost bet the boxer had found out about those things way before him, and had wasted no time putting them to use.

Only after that final observation did he realize how much time he had spent already. Pyrrha was probably already ready and waiting for him, so he hurriedly got undressed and put in the swimsuit. Crossing the rubber curtain separating the changing room from the pool itself, Jaune was met by a sight that he really should've expected, but caught him off-guard nonetheless.

The redhead was sitting at the edge of the pool, submerging her feet underwater. She was wearing a red one-piece swimsuit with golden highlights on the sides and a considerable opening on the back, and it complemented her figure quite admirably. He tried his best not to stare at the unsuspecting girl, at her bare skin, the curves hidden underneath the elastic material, the smooth and well-toned legs.

He cleared his throat to call her attention, not knowing how else to terminate that tense moment.

"Oh, there you are."

"Yeah, sorry to keep you waiting."

She giggled. "It's fine."

Without warning, she jumped into the pool, and after a couple seconds of hesitation he followed suit. As it turned out, Pyrrha Nikos was quite the competitive swimmer, lapping around at a speed that he could only wish to keep up with. He tried, oh did he try, abandoning his expectations of a relaxing trip and embracing the feel of the fresh water in his soon-to-be-aching muscles.

After an indeterminate amount of time, as having brought the Scroll to a pool would've been foolish, he gave up and just let his body float around the surface like an inflated starfish. Exercise was hard, he had done so much more of it just over the past two weeks than for the whole of the year before applying to Beacon. There was no reason he couldn't have a little moment of pointless drifting around.

The redhead took a while to notice his inertia, so engrossed in her swimming that she seemed like a mermaid late for work. It was when she stopped to breathe, or rather, pant heavily, that she saw the floating boy, and started laughing. He jumped at the sudden sound, and accidentally swallowed an unpleasant amount of water, falling into a coughing fit.

"You okay?" She pat him on the back, easing the strain on his lungs.

"Yeah, better now. But I think that's enough pool for me." Jaune walked up to the edge of the pool, and hoisted himself over to sit down. When she came over, he felt compelled to stop her. "Don't worry about me, you can keep doing… all of that you were doing."

"Sorry, I guess I got too immersed into it." He could bet the pun was not intended, that didn't seem like her style.

"It was pretty impressive, honestly. I had never seen anyone swim that fast."

"Thank you."

They fell into a weird silence, neither knowing how to continue the conversation.

"You can go back in if you want to, you know?" He could see that she was restless, itching to move again, and did not want to be holding her back. After all, he was just plain old Jaune.

"I'd rather you accompany me…" _Walked right into that one, didn_ _'t I?_

He opened his mouth, but found no retort to that one. It was hard coming up with the right words when your conversation buddy was an attractive woman in a tight-fitting swimsuit.

"I know, how about we try something less demanding?"

Pyrrha stood up, and walked to the wrack where the boards, balls, and other supplies rested, but as soon as she started digging through them, the bell rang.

 **DING DONG DING DONG**

 **"This is a School Announcement. It's 11 PM. Nighttime is now in effect. The cafeteria doors will be closing soon, so make sure you're not inside. Have a good night!"**

"Oh, I guess it's already late…"

"Time flies when you're having fun, huh?" _I'm the cheesiest person alive._

Regardless, she smiled at him, feeling comforted that he had a good time. "We should probably go."

"Yeah. Good night, Pyrrha." With a small wave, he retreated into the changing room, where her alluring figure couldn't haunt him any longer. It sure had been fun, if slightly different than usual. The redhead had been a good friend ever since they found themselves in that school, and he knew he could count on her to soothe any worries he'd have.

He washed all the pool chemicals from his skin with a quick shower, and put on some clothes, not even bothering with underwear. He would get them off as soon as he made it to his room anyway, so it didn't matter.

The run back took no time at all, and soon he was resting on his bed once more. He felt exhausted like every day, but this time there had been plenty of reason. Chased down by an angry boxer, handcuffed to someone for hours, and a trip to the pool late at night, only now was he finally able to stop. He felt good, like things were finally looking up.

* * *

The Ultimate Lucky Student woke up feeling disoriented. For the first time since he had come to Beacon, he hadn't been awoken by Monokuma's unbearably cheery voice.

 _Must've been really tired if I slept through the freaking thing._ He checked the time in his Scroll, and finding that it was already 9, he got ready in a hurry. Still getting dressed, he left the room and headed to the cafeteria where the others would certainly be already, if they hadn't left yet. He had no obligation to see them at breakfast every day, but the routine kept him grounded in reality, it helped.

"We were starting to wonder if something had happened to you!" The greeting as he walked inside was instant. It was not just for his sake that they gathered,

"Sorry, slept through the announcement."

"Well, you weren't the only one. Blake and Yang haven't shown up either."

"Huh? That's weird."

"They must really be loving the handcuffs." Nora fired off with her profanities, as always.

"I'm right here!" The sharpshooter was not pleased with the insinuations about her sibling's sex life.

"Hehehe, oops. Sorry, Ruby."

They waited, but neither of the two girls showed up. After a while, Emerald took off, too bored to remain still, and Weiss would follow soon after. They all abandoned the stakeout and returned to whatever lives they had to run.

Jaune was, however, feeling uneasy. There was something on his mind, something bugging him that would not leave as much as he wished it. He recalled the weights on the pool's locker room, and wondered if Yang had seen them, or if they were on the woman's changing room as well, since he had no way of knowing.

It was, of course, an excuse, a pretext to look for the blonde and her dark-haired companion without facing the ugly possibility. The possibility that Beacon's gears were once again turning, fueled by the students' blood.

For that reason, he was drawn to the second floor, and found himself approaching the classroom in which he had found the boxer two days prior, the one she had mentioned liking to meditate in. He looked at the slightly ajar entrance, and breathed in deeply.

"Yang? Are you there?" When no response came from inside, he pushed the door open and took a step in.

The first thing that struck him as he was crossing the doorway was the smell. A stench of iron filled his nostrils, coming from seemingly everywhere at once. Deep down, he knew what he'd find in that classroom, but that small detail was what sealed the deal in his mind.

He swallowed dryly, feeling iron in his taste buds, and looked to the front with all the courage he could muster. He wasn't ready for what he'd see.

On the furthest side of the classroom, above the small wooden stage, was Yang Xiao Long, strung up by her wrists to the edges of the teacher's blackboard. A large metallic pipe was protruding from her abdomen, carved deep into her flesh. Blood trailed all the way down from her wounds until the floor, where it pooled down in a glimmering sea of red, although it had long since stopped flowing. Her lilac eyes were still slightly open, but light had faded from them entirely.

Jaune took a step back.

Then he took another.

His back struck a desk, violently toppling it over, but he did not remove his sight from the body. He simply couldn't, unable to process the gruesome scene in front of him.

It wasn't possible, it couldn't be real.

Not Yang. She was too strong.

He heard his own voice screaming, but it felt like it wasn't coming from his own body. It all felt so surreal, so unbelievable.

"Jaune? Is that you? Is everything okay?" He barely registered the innocent voice coming from outside, too lost inside that spiraling madness. When he finally did, it was too late.

"RUBY, DON'T-" He ran to the door, holding his arms out to try and keep it shut, but he did not make it in time, and the girl walked in.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

 **Students Alive - 11**

* * *

 **Don't forget to review :)**


	9. Chapter 2-4

**Chapter 2.4 - The Despair of the Boxer  
**

"LET ME GO! **LET ME GO!** "

He held on to Ruby's waist from behind with both arms as she punched, kicked and clawed out blindly at him in an attempt to get loose from his imprisonment. Her eyes were so filled with tears that she could barely see, but she kept trying to escape, so she could return to the classroom, and were she any taller she would've succeeded.

"SHE'S MY SISTER! SHE NEEDS HELP!" Her voice pierced through his eardrums, a high-pitch scream of sheer desperation.

"Ruby, she's gone!"

"SHE CAN'T BE! SHE PROMISED! SHE JUST NEEDS A DOCTOR!"

"What on remnant is happening here?"

Jaune turned with surprise at the source of the voice, had amidst that mess forgotten about the existence of the others, and saw Weiss Schnee looking irately at him. The sharpshooter took his distraction as an opportunity, and struggled against his grip, finally becoming free. By the time he realized it, she was already speeding to the door, and he could not stop her.

The boy was about to give chase when he saw movement by the corner of his eye, and he looked over just in time to have a hand slap him across the left cheek. He felt the skin burn up, and stared in disbelief at the singer who was right in front of him.

"I should've expected you of all people to drop so low." There was spite in her voice, there always was, but this time there was something else: betrayal. Not jealousy, naturally, but the shattering of any tiny form of respect she had gained from his recent behavior.

"It's not..."

"Speak up, I can't hear you!"

"Yang..." He failed to form coherent words, and it took a moment for her to register what he was trying to say. When the proverbial lightbulb lit up, she hurriedly left him behind and ran to the classroom.

 **DING DONG DING DONG**

 **"A body has been discovered. Get your detectives hats out, because we'll be holding a trial soon!"**

The Ultimate Lucky Student sighed, letting a void of darkness fill his heart, choosing numbness over tears. He silently prayed to all the gods that would be the last time he would hear that awful announcement, and slowly marched back to the murder scene.

He tried not to look, but it was impossible to avoid looking at such a graphic display, still every bit as disturbing as the moment he had first laid eyes on it. Weiss hadn't made it very far past the entrance, staring at the brawler with wide eyes and her slender hands covering her mouth. The sharpshooter was standing by the corpse, her trembling fingers struggling in vain to undo the knots around her sister's wrists.

Jaune swallowed dryly, and reluctantly walked over to the stage. The ivory girl broke out of her daze as he passed by her, and said something about 'warning the others' before running back out. She seemed shook, and he didn't blame her; he was shook himself as well. But he knew whatever he felt at the moment, Ruby was no doubt suffering tenfold.

"Ruby..."

"Why are you just standing there? Help me!" She kept fumbling pointlessly with the rope, her hands trembling too much to be of any use in such a task.

"It's no use. You heard the announcement, she... Yang's gone."

"No! She..." Her shout faded and turned into a single sob. "She can't be..."

The blond dashed forward as he saw her knees falter, propelling her down to the floor. He caught her just before she hit the large blood puddle, and gently pulled her away from the corpse. The sniper allowed herself to be moved, tears now flowing profusely out of her silver eyes.

She grabbed on to his sweater, pulling on the black fabric with clenched fists, and screamed wordlessly. Jaune held her tighter, as tight as his arms could, ignoring the shoulder quickly becoming soaked in her tears.

Not long after, Weiss came back, bringing with her the rest of the class. They had heard the announcement, they had been warned about what had happened, but they were not ready for the sight of the actual crime scene, just as he hadn't been. It was a ghastly sight, a nightmare straight from the most tenebrous of stories, and the deceased's sister crying on the floor wasn't of any help either.

Nora clenched her fists, displaying uncharacteristic anger. Pyrrha covered her mouth with her hands, hiding away any shock or grief she was feeling. Emerald pinched her nose to try to keep away the invasive iron smell.

Gradually, Ruby settled down, although the lack of tears didn't mean the storm was done tormenting her. She moved away from him, and stood up with the help of a nearby desk, her muscles feeling too weakened to work by themselves.

"We have to do it again, don't we?" The girl wiped her eyes, trying so hard to stay strong.

Jaune nodded. "Pyrrha, do you mind guarding the crime scene?"

The redhead looked at him with a confused look, but accepted. She was the only athletic type still left, and therefore the most well-suited for the task.

"I'll stay too." Velvet stepped forward, and moved to her side.

"Hey, has anyone seen Blake?" The whole class turned to Sun, who had uttered those words.

"Now that you mention it, where is she?"

"Very suspicious..."

"We should worry about her later. The clock is ticking on the investigation."

Neo waved, ensuring all eyes were on her. _"I'm checking the library. Clues are probably all on this floor."_

"Right, I'll come with." Sun took off with the mute, not even waiting for the other's opinions.

"Then I shall take the pool." Weiss put her mask of composure up again, even though he knew by now how much of it was just pretense. "Ruby?"

"Yeah?"

"Want to join me?"

The sharpshooter looked back at the body of sister, letting out an almost imperceptible shudder, and then murmured a feeble 'okay'. The ivory-haired singer led her outside, leaving only four students left.

"Okay, so... Does anyone want to take the downstairs? Just in case..."

"You can count on me, Jaune!" Nora tried to sound jovial and energetic, but it fell fall to all that were present, unable to hide her fear.

"I guess I'll tag along. You boys can handle..." Em waved her hand at the corpse with a disgusted grimace. "...all of that."

As they vanished from the classroom, Jaune breathed out in relief, glad that the class was finally taking matters into their own hands and working together, meaning his act as a makeshift leader was no longer necessary. He glanced over at Ren, apparently his partner for that investigation, but the chef was busy with his Scroll. It took him a couple of seconds, but he soon understood why the boy was seemingly distracted.

"Do you think we have a Monokuma File again?"

Ren nodded. "We do."

Retrieving his own device, he punched the necessary buttons, and unlocked the new report.

 **Monokuma File N°2**

 _The victim was Yang Xiao Long, the Ultimate Boxer._

 _Her body was found at 10:25am in classroom 2-B._

 _The body shows signs of impalement, as well as some other cuts and bruises._

 _Time of death was 10:10pm of the previous day._

He looked to the side, seeing the blonde girl with a metallic rod still stuck in her abdomen. _'Signs of impalement' my ass._ He knew the bear was just trying to rile him up, but it was working. He felt so angry, an immense resentment towards the fluffy mastermind of that sick game. It was enough that he was playing with their lives, he was also enjoying himself. What kind of twisted mind could take pleasure from such a thing?

Dumping the device back into his pocket, he took a couple of tentative steps in the direction of the body. It had been hard with Penny, but this time it was so much worse. The pool of dark-red blood on the floor, clotted and glimmering, emanating that metallic smell that grew in intensity with each step he took. The twisted scene of torture-like grittiness. He felt as if he was about to unload the entirety of hos breakfast on the wooden-tiled ground. To add insult to injury, he not only had to stomach the sight, but he also had to investigate it.

"Really wish Blake was here, she's a lot better with that stuff."

"It's strange that she's missing. Very, very strange."

He looked back at the dark-haired boy, who wielded a serious pensive expression, one of his hands rubbing his chin as if the act would magically enhance his perceptiveness. "Huh?"

"The fourth rule, remember? 'A student can only kill two people.'"

"You think she's..."

The cook shrugged his shoulders. "I'm sure she's fine. She can take care of herself, no doubt."

"I hope so..." _You're not helping._ After too long of beating around the bush, the lucky student swallowed the bile in his mouth, and finally began investigating.

The most striking resemblance about the body was, of course, the **Metal Rod** poking out from her. It was a cylinder of one arm's length, and only two inches thick, its surface a chrome grey where it was not stained with red. The tip of the baton had a small rubber tip, almost like the foot of a piece of furniture, whereas the other end was well lodged within Yang's abdomen, perforating so much that it could stand on its own without falling.

Jaune suppressed his will to touch the wound to investigate how deep it was and where it had struck internally, fearing the endurance of his revolting insides. Thus, he moved on to the woman's arms, bound apart by **Elastic Rope** , that also tied them to the edges of the blackboard. The rope was black, and had little weights on each end, but there were no signs of foul play in them.

 _Aren't those from the pool?_ They looked oddly similar to the ones he had found in the changing room, stashed along with other training gear. He made a mental note to return there later, and compare them.

The boy instinctively took another look at the corpse's face, almost as if expecting it to suddenly come back to life. Her lifeless lilac eyes looked like they were staring into him, blaming him for her death. It was then he noticed something else, a thick red line above the girl's brow, peeking from under her golden mane. He moved the hair out of the way, and took a better look at the **Forehead Cut**. It appeared to be recent, considering it hadn't closed, but it seemed to have been cleaned, as there was no blood coming out of it. It felt odd to find that blemish. He couldn't recall her having it before. Was it related to the murder, or was it just a red herring? It didn't make much sense for the killer to clean up a cut when there was so blood on the rest of the scene, but the possibility wasn't completely unthinkable.

He stepped back to contemplate the whole scene, feeling shivers rock his spine. He wasn't yet ready to put the pieces together, but there was something bothering him about it all.

"Why go to the trouble of tying her up? It seems... unnecessary."

"Maybe the killer wanted to show off."

"What?"

"The rope, the metal pole, it's almost like they put on a display for us to see."

His eyes widened in terror. "Why would they do that?"

"Maybe they wanted to send a message?" Jaune couldn't even find an appropriate answer for that.

Finding himself monologuing, Ren walked away and approached the corpse once more, raising his hands to the girl's scarf. Before he could be questioned about it, he gently pulled the accessory away from the body, revealing faint red **Marks on the Neck**.

"Huh? What is that?"

"Strangling Marks."

"...the hell? She was strangled too?"

"Apparently. Hard to tell with that, though. Those don't look like hand marks."

" _Sigh_ I hate doing this."

The chef moved to put the scarf back on, in a pointless attempt to keep the body's dignity intact. It was then that he noticed something else.

"Oh!"

"What? Is there something else?"

"Yes, look here." The dark-haired boy pushed her jacket just slightly to the side, showing four red scrapes in her skin. They were **Scratch Marks** , not deep enough to be caused by an animal, not that there were any in the school, meaning they had to be human-made.

"What the hell happened here?" There were too many clues on her body, many of them seemingly contradictory. The more he investigated, the more lost he felt.

Jaune looked at the room around them, scattered in complete disarray. It seemed like a clue as much as anything they had found on the body. There were a couple of **Smashed Desks** , and most others toppled over, only a handful remaining in place. There were shards of glass on the floor, scattered the splintered furniture. Any way he looked at it, it appeared like a hurricane had tore through the classroom.

Beneath the chaotic mess, he caught a glimpse of a familiar orange object: Yang's duffle bag. It made sense for it to be there, the boxer always carried it with her when she was going to train, which in his experience was all the time. He felt guilty for wanting to see what was inside it, like he was going to peek at her most intimate belongings, but he couldn't pass on the chance that it would have vital clues within. Besides, it was not like she was going to get mad at him for it now.

The first thing that struck him when he walked forward to further investigate was the **Blood Splatter** on the floor. It wasn't substantial, not when compared to the concentration under and around Yang, but it was there nonetheless. I was hard to tell where they had originated from since they were a good five feet from the corpse, and thus dislocated from the main source of bleeding. Had the killer bled when confronting her?

Walking around it, so as not to disturb the evidence, he kneeled next to the duffle bag and reached for the long zipper. It was already open.

Peeking out from the opening was a metallic glimmer, so that was what Jaune grabbed first. To his surprise, the item he retrieved was a familiar pair of **Open Handcuffs**. There was hardly a reason for it to be surprising, Blake wasn't currently bound to Yang, so their cuffs had to be elsewhere, but he had somehow let the detail slip his mind. Where was the cat faunus? Was she okay? Why were the shackles in the boxer's bag? He had more questions than answers at the moment.

Continuing to dig through the bag, he found loose clothing, the gloves and protections they had used in the training sessions, and two towels.

 _Why would she need two?_ He grabbed one of them, and looked closely at it. It was dry and soft, and had not distinguishing features apart from the...

 _No... No, no, no, no!_ He used all of his self-control not to visibly freak out, but inside he was a convoluted mess of panic and doubts.

The towel had a little drawing of a bunny in the corner, the sign he used to mark his possessions. The towel found in the crime scene was his.

Why was **Jaune's Towel** there? Had Yang accidentally brought it with her? Or had it been the killer? Why did fate keep trying to involve him in every murder? So much for Lucky Student.

Without thinking twice about it, he shoved the towel back into the duffle bag, and zipped it back shut, leaving the pair of cuffs outside. It wasn't like he was hiding evidence, right? After all, he was certain he was not involved in the killing, so it had to be nothing but a coincidence.

Finally, just the slightest more calm, he moved on to the pieces of glass on the floor. They too looked disjointed from the crime scene - there was nothing broken or made of that material inside the classroom, not even the windows, who were still covered in metal.

The lucky student picked up one of the shards, bringing it close to his face si he could see it in detail. It was curve and smooth, like the piece of a **Shattered Bottle**. He couldn't tell what it contained, however, since it had no visible label.

"Found anything useful?" He yelped at the sudden voice behind him, to which she giggled softly, even despite them being in the presence of the deceased.

"I... Plenty. Hey, Pyrrha? There was something I wanted to ask you."

"What is it?"

"The Monokuma file places the time of death at 10:10pm, that's when we were in the pool, right?"

"I think so. Didn't you hear the nighttime announcement? It plays at 10pm every day."

"You're right... Oh Oum, then it happened while we were so close by! How did we not hear it?"

Their conversation was forcefully ended by a slam on the door, putting an abrupt stop to **Pyrrha's Testimony**. Sun came inside, breathing heavily like he had just ran a marathon. Upon the confused sight of the ones already inside, the monkey faunus raised his hand to ask for a break, and after not more than three seconds, he finally shed some light on the reason that has brought him there with such haste.

"You guys need to come quick! It's Blake, we found her!"

* * *

Jaune was practically biting his fingernails by the time arrived at the library, even though it was right next to the murder scene. The blonde faunus had rushed back out after those ominous words, providing no explanation besides the one their imaginations could muster. He knew what he'd find behind that door, the horrors that awaited inside, and he wasn't sure his already faltering sanity could take another blow before breaking.

Ren moved ahead, sensing his hesitation, and opened the entrance. Pyrrha and Velvet had stayed behind, guarding the body.

As he crossed the doorway, the boy was surprised by the lack of body announcement on the nearby speakers. Why was it not ringing? It was a part of the rules, that the announcement would play when at least three people had found a b-

"Blake?"

"Oh, hey Jaune." The girl was sitting down on top of a table, with a hand pressed against the back of her head like it was hurting unbearably.

"What the hell, Sun, I thought she was dead!"

"Hey, man, that's not my fault. I said nothing about no one being dead."

 _Yeah but you made it sound like it!_ He glanced at the chef, who nodded at him. "You could've done a better job communicating."

"Why was all the rush then?"

"We came in and she was knocked out on the floor!"

The brunette grimaced, clearly unhappy with the memory, but as far as Jaune could tell they were telling the truth, despite how unbelievably suspicious it all sounded. Or perhaps he was being too trusting.

"What happened?"

"Someone came behind me and put a rag around my nose. I think it had chloroform in it."

"Chloroform?"

 _"It's a chemical that makes you unconscious when you breath in its vapors."_ Neo elucidated with a pre-prepared explanation for that exact circumstance. He couldn't be sure if the grin currently on her face was because she enjoyed being helpful, or a way of rubbing in his face how predictable and easy to read he was. Probably the latter, but truth be told he didn't know the mute all too well.

"That hardly seems like something you'd find in an average household."

"Where would you even get something like that?"

Neither one of them had an answer for that mystery.

"Do you remember anything else, anything that could help us figure out who did it?"

"Well, when they attacked me I instinctively tried to defend myself. They should have a pretty nasty scratch on the right shoulder." Upon hearing **Blake's Testimony** , Jaune and Ren traded a terrified glance, much to her confusion. "What?"

"Yang, she... had scratch marks like that." It didn't occur to him that she might not have known about the boxer's fate, but luckily, she seemed to have been filled in by Neo already.

"That's not possible. Yang couldn't have been the one to do it..."

"Weren't you two handcuffed to each other? I recall you refusing to be released yesterday." It was only when Ren pointed it out that Jaune realized that very same inconsistency.

"I..."

"They asked me to open their cuffs yesterday after dinner." Sun spoke up, offering her a helping hand.

"You... Why? What was all that speech about complying with Monokuma for then?"

"We were serious about it! But, Yang asked for a little time to herself, and of course I agreed. We were going to put them back on afterwards." The more she spoke, the more it all seemed too convenient, with all the evidence pointing to her and little more than her own testimony on the defense side. Jaune was trying his best not to take any conclusions just yet, though. There was certainly more to that case, nothing was ever that simple.

"I can confirm, at least that's what Yang told me yesterday. I can't say so for what happened afterwards, obviously." **Sun's Testimony** seemed to corroborate everything she said. Was it possible that they were working together?

"Hmm, okay. Did you find anything else?"

 _"We haven't really checked the rest of the library."_

"Okay, let us know if any new clues come up." He and the chef turned to leave, since there was apparently nothing else be learned there. When they crossed the door to the hallway, Blake followed them out.

"You suspect me, don't you?"

The luckster failed to come up with an answer, but his partner did it for him. "It's too early to say yet."

The cat faunus nodded. "Is it okay if I inspect the body? I know you already did it, but..."

"It's fine, go ahead. Maybe you'll find something we didn't."

With that she took off. There was an odd look in her eyes, quite unlike her usual unfazed expression. They had all been affected by the latest loss, but she was the only one displaying signs of guilt. Whether that was from having played a part in the murder, or simply for failing to protect her companion, he could not yet know.

"What do you think of what they said?"

"It's odd, to say the least. Almost like those two are up to something." The neutral tone with which the cook said those words was rather off-setting.

"But why would they cover for each other? I thought only the murderer graduated."

"Well, there's only one way to know for sure." The silence that followed implied he expected the blond boy to do it.

"Ugh... Hey, Monokuma?"

"Did somebody call?" The bear almost fell from the ceiling, dropping right in front of them. Considering how quickly the mascot responded, it was clear he had been spying on them.

"Yeah, we have a question."

"You always do, Jauney Boy. Are you sure this is about the case, or are you just trying to unlock my romance route? The headmaster and a student, oh my that would be scandalous!"

"Oh, shut up and listen."

"In the event of two students committing the crime, which one would graduate?"

"The killer, of course. It only matters who dealt the killing blow."

"So, if someone planned the whole thing, but wasn't the one to put the final blow on the victim, would he not count as the murderer?" _Dear Oum, man, are you helping with this case or planning a murder of your own?_

"Nope. Only matters who swung the axe, who sliced the throat, who put tge poison in the drink, who broke the..."

Jaune burst out. "Okay, okay, we get it!"

"Alrighty, then. I guess I'll leave you two studs to it." The stuffed animal started to walk away, but stopped at the last moment. "Oh, and Pool Noodle? Call me later if you're still interested."

"AAAAAAARGH!"

Monokuma took off laughing.

He breathed out deeply, and looked at Ren with pleading eyes. He found no mercy there.

"He wouldn't do this if you didn't make it so easy on him, you know?"

Ignoring the wit, the boy began walking to the next stop. He was almost through the hallway when he spotted the grey door to the pool's antechamber, and remembered the elastic rope he had seen in the crime scene. Without so much as a warning, he turned ninety degrees and kept going. The sudden change wasn't lost to his companion.

"Where are you going?"

"I just wanted to check something in the pool, won't take long."

He moved onwards, noting that the chef was not following. It didn't matter, since he didn't expect there would be many clues inside. There would, however, be more than one thing in there that he did not expect.

The first of those things was Ruby quickly moving around, her hands full of pool supplies. Her face didn't look as troubled as before, but instead with a strange kind of focus. She stored away the boards in a rack, and then trotted off to get more.

Standing next to the rack was Weiss, taking notes on a notepad. Every time Ruby came up to her, the two shared a glance, and she nodded in approval before scribbling some more. If he didn't know better, it looked like she was grading the young girl.

They didn't stop when he made his presence known, so he quietly slipped next to the singer ad whispered his confusion. "What are you doing?"

"An inventory of the swimming supplies." She spoke bluntly, keeping her eyes on the task.

"What? Why?"

"To keep her mind off of what happened." The tone lowered abruptly, in an attempt to avoid reaching the ears of a fast-approaching Ruby. She waited until the sharpshooter left, and then continued. "She's grieving a lot right now, and it will only get worse in the trial. She needs this."

"By making her work?"

"It's mindless and mechanic, doesn't require any thought. Perfect for you, now that I think of it." _You just couldn't resist, could you._

They conspicuously paused again, and then resumed once her back was turned.

"That's very nice of you…" He couldn't hide the surprise in his voice, but didn't feel the need to.

"I know what it's like to lose a sibling."

 _Oh, right. Her brother Whitley was murdered by the White Fang._ He made sure not to say those things aloud, fearing that it would be poking at her wounds.

"Did you find anything here?"

"No, nothing seems to point to this being involved in the crime."

"Okay, thanks. I just want to check something in the guy's changing room."

Before he could reach the door, however, she called out for him.

"Jaune?"

The boy turned around.

"My hands are tied on this one, so…" She shifted her weight, struggling for a second to find the appropriate words. "Now's not the time to be helpless."

It was somehow reassuring, despite her crude phrasing. He smiled faintly to show he understood, but she had already returned her focus to Ruby,

Putting all of that aside, he waved his Scroll over the **Electronic Lock** , and walked past the now unlocked door. The changing room was the third surprise he would find on the pool area. It didn't look quite like what he remembered.

The showers were untouched, the lockers were still in place and firmly shut, but there was a piece of furniture that was new to the decor: a metallic rack, or what was left of it. The structure seemed to have collapsed, and its contents were spilling out of the shelves and onto the floor, flooding the changing room with swimming gear. As he peered on closer, the cause of the damage became apparent - the **Rack was Missing a Leg**. Without the added support, the weight of its entrails had forced it to crumble, thus the reason for the mess.

He wasn't yet sure how it fit into the murder, but it undoubtedly had to be important. Unless someone had used the pool late in the night, he had been the last one to be there, and he recalled with absolute certainty that the rack hadn't been there.

With a sigh of tiresomeness, wearing down by all the detective work, he moved around and reached the lockers. Opening the first one, he grabbed the jumping rope inside and inspected it in detail. As he had suspected, it looked just like the rope tying up Yang, from its elastic material to the two weights on each end.

With all his business seemingly concluded, he took one peek through the curtain and into the pool, to make sure there were no sneaky clues awaiting there, but he found none. It felt somewhat lucky in that regard - he was about ready to put down the thinking hat. But he couldn't, not yet. One more place required his attention.

He found the chef waiting for him on the outside.

"Find what you were looking for?"

"I think so."

"So, to the infirmary?" He nodded, glad they were on the same page with the investigation. Even if he was being a lot more talkative, which was fortunate since a silent partner would've made the case much harder, he still couldn't shake the feeling that the black-haired cook perceived more than he let on, and was thus closer to the truth than him. Maybe it was just another of his inferiority-fueled ravings, but it felt real just the same.

They climbed down the stairs together, reaching the first floor. After turning their backs to the cafeteria and its brightly-lit hallway, they spotted a familiar ginger mane just by the gift store entrance.

"Hey, Ren! And Jaune. What are you guys doing down here?" Nora waved, then trotted up them, bringing the green-haired illusionist with her.

"We needed to make sure of something. What about you, did you find anything?"

"There's some stuff missing from the AV Room, but otherwise nothing."

"From the AV Room?"

"A **Sound Recorder** , to be specific." Emerald joined in, impatiently shifting her weight from one leg to the other.

"Why would the killer need a recorder?"

"Beats me." She punctuated the sentence with a shrug. "Anyway, what were you looking for?"

He turned around and pointed at the infirmary door a little further along the hallway. "That."

"The infirmary? Wasn't it locked?"

"That's what we want to make sure."

He walked up to the door with a big red cross in it, followed closely by the other three students. Holding his breath in anticipation, he reached for the doorknob, grabbed it, and twisted.

The door opened.

The room ahead of them was white all over, just as disinfected as a hospital would be. There wasn't a speck of dust or dirt in sight. They walked in, and began getting acquainted with that new environment.

The right side had two patient beds, separated by a pale teal curtain that offered the only sprinkle of color in that otherwise impersonal space. A cupboard was attached to the wall at face-height on the farthest wall, and within it they found a plethora of medical instruments, from forceps to blades and syringes. Jaune found them to be unsettling, not just because he wasn't too fond of doctors, but because all of those things looked like they could be used as a murder weapon. They already had enough of those.

The left side of the infirmary seemed to function more as storage. There were two tall metallic cabinets, just taller than he was, separated by a small fraction of wall where a potted fern stood. He wondered if the plant was real or plastic, considering it didn't seem to be dying despite the lack of sun and water. Unless the mastermind was watering the plants during the night, it had to be a fake.

Opening the cabinets, he inspected the contents of one of them, while Ren did the same for the other. They were filled with bottles of **Medical Supplies** and chemicals, with names that he had never heard of and had no idea what they were meant for. There could be poison in there for all he knew, and he would have no way of telling. Regardless, he was looking for only one thing, which he did not find: chloroform. He traded a glance with his dark-haired companion, confirming that he too had found nothing.

 **DING DONG DING DONG**

 **"Time's up. All students are to gather near the red door on the first floor immediately. And make it quick, I'm getting bored here."**

The four of them looked helplessly at one another, silently hoping that they had gathered enough evidence to crack the case. There was too much at stake for them to lose.

Quietly and with a fair bit of resignation, they left the infirmary and headed to the satin red door. Since they were the closest to it, they were the first to arrive. Eventually, the others walked in to, standing in front of the gate to the elevator. There was a tense silence shared by all, whether from being deep in thought or entrenched in fear.

Weiss and Ruby were the last to show up, and did so without a word. The youngster still looked quite shaken, not even taking her eyes off the floor. The trial was bound to be a rough ride for her, more so than for everyone else.

The door behind them clicked shut, and the elevator on the other end opened its inviting doors. When the eleven of them were inside, the sound of buzzing machinery began once more, and they descended into the depths of the school.

Yang Xiao Long, the Ultimate Boxer. She had been light-hearted and playful, but surprisingly thoughtful even through her occasional outbursts of anger. She had cared deeply for her sister, and she had loved what she did with all her might, the thrill and the rush of adrenaline of a fight rivalling no other sensation. It couldn't have been an easy task to take her down, just as it wouldn't be an easy task to solve the mystery of her death. But they had no choice. Their lives were on the line. Whatever the result, they had to endure and survive, as Yang would've wanted them to.

And so, the door opened for the second Class Trial.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

 **Students Alive - 11**

* * *

 **Have you figured out who it is already? If you haven't, here's a handy map of the clues just like last time (replace every '-' for a '.', since this site doesn't let me post links).**

 **i-imgur-com/lkbbukM-png**

 **Trial chapter should be up in just a couple of days. Don't forget to review :)**


	10. Chapter 2-5

**A year ago today I posted my first fanfiction chapter on this website. Whether you are a regular, or this is the only piece you've read, thank you for accompanying me on this journey.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2.5 - Blame It On Despair**

The elevator whirred and clinked, before opening its door. The class of eleven students walked out of it, and into the very familiar Trial Room. They all had bad memories of that place, but by the end of the day they would have made new ones, and just as horrifying as the others. There would be no peace in the courtroom.

Quietly, and with a fair amount of resignation, they occupied the stands assigned to each of them, noting how much emptier it felt now that there were 3 less students than when the first trial had begun.

No one paid any mind to Monokuma when he ceremoniously entered the arena. It was time for the truth, and they knew it.

* * *

 **CLASS TRIAL IS NOW IN SESSION**

 **Monokuma:** "Welcome to the Class Trial for Miss Yang Xiao Long."

 **Monokuma:** "Let's start with an explanation of how the Class Trial works. You will be given time to discuss the evidence you all gathered, and at the end you will have to vote for who the murderer is. If you vote correctly, I'll execute the culprit, but if you're wrong I'll kill everyone except the culprit. So pick carefully, kiddos!"

 **Sun:** "Did you really have to repeat that?"

 **Ruby:** "So... Where do we start?"

 **Pyrrha:** "You don't have to do this, Ruby."

 **Ruby:** "Yes, I do. I need to do it for Yang." She began to choke on her own words, so Jaune took over.

 **Jaune:** "We should start by determining cause of death."

 **Weiss:** "No, we should start by determining why _she_ is still alive!"

 **Jaune:** "Huh?"

 **Blake:** "I assume you mean me."

 **Sun:** "Not this again!"

 **Ren:** "She does have a point. Blake and Yang were both handcuffed when the murder happened..."

 **Nora:** "That's right, you two refused to be freed like the rest of us!"

 **Monokuma:** "Wait, wait, wait, hold on a second! You got free from the cuffs?"

 **Emerald:** "Yeah, Sun lockpicked them..."

 **Velvet:** "You didn't notice?"

 **Monokuma** _:_ "No! I was busy, I thought I could leave you kiddos to behave for a couple hours!"

 **Weiss:** "Moving on..."

 **Monokuma:** "Hey, don't ignore me!"

 **Blake:** "We didn't break any of he rules, so you can't do a thing." Monokuma kept grumbling in the background, but no one paid him any mind.

 **Neo:** " _Where were we?_ "

 **Ren:** "Blake was going to explain why she wasn't with Yang at the time of death."

 **Jaune:** "But don't you already know?"

 **Ren:** "I do, but everyone else doesn't. We need to hear them say it."

 **Emerald:** "Them?"

 **Sun:** "That'd be me. I unlocked their handcuffs." He lifted his hand like a student asking for the teacher's attention in class.

 **Ruby:** "But didn't Yang say..."

 **Velvet:** "She did insist it was unsafe to disobey Monokuma."

 **Monokuma:** "Damn right it is! Finally, someone with some sense!"

 **Blake:** "Yang asked Sun if it was possible to unlock the cuffs, and then put them back on."

 **Neo:** " _Why?_ "

 **Jaune:** "She wanted to train, right? Her duffle bag was there in the classroom."

 **Blake:** "Being chained to each other made it hard for her to move around, and I could tell she didn't want to bother me. I was actually the one who suggested it."

 **Ren:** "You could have freedom to move around, and afterwards go back to the shackles to avoid Monokuma's wrath."

 **Blake:** "Exactly."

 **Pyrrha:** "But wouldn't that mean only the two of you knew about it?"

 **Weiss:** "Thank you! At last, someone intelligent here."

 **Jaune:** "What are you trying to say, that one of them committed the murder?"

 **Sun:** "Hey, Blake couldn't have done it! She was unconscious the whole night."

 **Emerald:** "Wait, say that again?"

 **Neo:** " _We found her knocked out in the library._ "

 **Velvet:** "So that's why she didn't show up at the crime scene."

 **Weiss:** "And we're supposed to believe that because..." As much as he wanted to disagree with her accusations, her argument was pertinent. They were believing nothing butBlake's word on it.

 **Blake:** "The Schnee is right, I don't have an alibi. No one can corroborate my story except the killer."

 **Jaune:** "What about chloro-stuff?"

 **Nora:** "The what?"

 **Neo:** _"It's a chemical that makes you unconscious when you breathe in its vapors."_ She used the notepad page she had used when explaining it to Jaune.

 **Pyrrha:** "Chloroform? I don't think you'd find any in a school..."

 **Emerald:** "Hmm, so that's why you two were so interested in the infirmary."

 **Ren:** "Yes, if there's a chemical like that in here, the infirmary would be the place to find it."

 **Weiss:** "Wait, hold on a minute! What are you talking about?"

 **Ruby:** "The infirmary was locked when we found it."

 **Jaune:** "Well, it's not anymore."

 **Weiss:** "And why didn't we know about this?"

 **Emerald:** "We just found out today during the investigation. Jaune was the one who suggested we look."

 **Jaune:** "We found pieces of a small bottle in the classroom. It looked a lot like some sort of medicine."

 **Velvet:** "So only the killer knew about the door being unlocked? Do you think they were the ones who unlocked it?"

 **Ren:** "Breaking a door would be against the rules."

 **Sun:** "Then who did?"

 **Neo:** _"Obviously, Monokuma"_

 **Monokuma:** "Oh ho, busted! You're right, I opened it after the last trial. Thought it would make things more interesting."

 **Blake:** "And no one thought to check because it wasn't on the second floor."

 **Pyrrha:** "Then how did the killer find out about it?"

 **Blake:** "I don't think that's important right now. Only that they knew, and were the only ones to do so."

 **Ruby:** "So there was chloroform in the infirmary?"

 **Ren:** "No."

 **Jaune:** "I mean... We didn't find it there, doesn't mean there wasn't some before.

 **Sun:** "So the killer took it and used it to knock out Blake."

 **Weiss:** "That's circumstancial at best."

 **Blake:** "Hate to agree, but she has a point."

 **Sun:** "What are you saying, Blake? This clears you of suspicion!"

 **Emerald:** "He really doesn't get it, does he?"

 **Sun:** "Get what?"

 **Weiss:** "If she didn't do it, it had to be you."

 **Sun:** "WHAT? Why?"

 **Pyrrha:** "You two were the only ones who knew that Yang and Blake were separated."

 **Nora:** "Which means you had opportunity! You screwed up, monkey boy."

 **Sun:** "Is everyone against me?" _Doesn't feel good, does it?_

 **Jaune:** "Let's not make hasty accusations, **just like last time**. We still haven't determined the cause of death."

 **Neo:** _"Do we have to? It was pretty clearly impaling."_

 **Blake:** "Actually, no it wasn't."

 **Ren:** "It was asphyxia, right?"

 **Emerald:** "She died from suffocating?"

 **Pyrrha:** "Are you sure?"

 **Jaune:** "We did find marks on her neck..."

 **Ren:** "And it was covered by her scarf, so it most certainly had something to do with the case."

 **Sun:** "So... What? The killer strangled Yang and then hid the marks with the scarf?"

 **Weiss:** "Are you okay, Ruby?"

The sniper didn't answer, her eyes closed like she was holding back tears. She waved for them to continue. As much as they wanted, they couldn't leave the stands to console her. The trial had to go on regardless of the pain it caused.

 **Emerald:** "I still don't buy that she was strangled. I mean, did you see the freaking pole coming out of her stomach? It was coming out of the other side!"

 **Blake:** "Yes, and it's technically possible to survive that as long as it doesn't hit anything vital, which was the case."

 **Velvet:** "Wouldn't she just bleed out?"

 **Blake:** "Yes, but she wouldn't die instantly. She would've had time to scream for help, and the killer probably didn't want that."

 **Emerald:** "Fuck..."

 **Sun:** "Hey, but didn't the Monokuma File say she was impaled?"

 **Nora:** "The Mono... Oh, right, yes, that's a thing we have." She grabbed the Scroll from her pocket and quickly tapped its buttons.

 **Jaune:** "It said she had been impaled..."

 **Blake:** "But not that it was the cause of death. In fact, that detail seems to be suspiciously missing from the file altogether."

 **Monokuma:** "Are you accusing me of something, Miss Belladonna?"

 **Blake:** "Yes." Her remark was blunt and devoid of emotion.

 **Monokuma:** "How dare you? I'll have you know that I'm a stalwart and trustwort..."

 **Emerald:** "Okay, so the bear totally lied to us, what else?"

 **Monokuma:** "Hey, I'm right here!"

 **Sun:** "If he hid a piece of information, it must be important, right? I mean, why else would he to do it? He's trting to mess with us."

 **Blake:** "Exactly my point."

 **Weiss:** "So, assuming we take your word for it, what was the murder weapon?"

 **Blake:** "That... I don't know. It clearly wasn't done by hand, and it didn't quite look like normal rope burns."

 **Sun:** "So, what did it look like?"

 **Ren:** "Something thicker than a rope, also maybe less cohesive."

 **Neo:** _"A bed sheet, maybe?"_

 **Jaune:** "Oh, no..."

 **Velvet:** "What?"

 **Jaune:** "I think I know what it is..."

 **Weiss:** "Well, spill it out!"

 **Jaune:** "It was a bath towel... My bath towel."

 **Nora:** "Your... Dammit, Jaune, did you kill someone again?"

 **Jaune:** "No! And I didn't do it the first time either, we already settled that!"

 **Blake:** "Wait, but why do you think your towel was used in the murder?"

 **Jaune:** "Because I found it there, in the classroom..."

 **Ren:** "Are you sure? I didn't see anything."

 **Blake:** "Neither did I."

 **Jaune:** "I... maybe have hid it..."

 **Weiss:** "YOU DID WHAT?"

 **Neo:** _"Did he just admit to tampering with evidence?"_

 **Sun:** "Oh man, that doesn't look good for you."

 **Jaune:** "I didn't kill her! And the towel was in the duffle bag, it's not my fault none of you investigated it!"

 **Weiss:** "And are we just supposed to take your word for it?"

 **Pyrrha:** "No, you can take mine as well. I can vouch for Jaune."

 **Weiss:** "Based on what?"

 **Pyrrha:** "He was with me at the time of the murder. The Monokuma file says it happened just after 10 pm, right? We were at the pool during that time."

 **Jaune:** "That's right, we even heard the announcement!"

 **Pyrrha:** "See? He's innocent." He beamed at smile at his savior and she smiled back.

 **Weiss:** "Hmph."

 **Blake:** "That does give him an alibi, which is more than the rest of us can say."

 **Emerald:** "I say we still axe him for trying to screw up thr investigation."

 **Jaune:** "What? No! That's against the rules, right Monokuma?"

 **Monokuma:** "You underestimate how bored I am, Pool Noodle. It could be arranged..."

 **Ruby:** "Can you guys please focus?" She barely spoke up, but it was enough for the class to hear.

 **Velvet:** "So... Where are we now?"

 **Neo:** _"Jaune's Towel was used as the murder weapon."_

 **Emerald:** "But wasn't Yang tied up and all? Why would you use a towel when you have rope with you?"

 **Pyrrha:** "Maybe she was already tied up before the killer came in?"

 **Ren:** "No, there were clear signs of struggle."

 **Jaune:** "Ren's right, the classroom was smashed to bits, there must've been a fight."

 **Nora:** "A fight against _Yang_? The Ultimate Fighter? Ouch, that couldn't have been pretty."

 **Ruby:** "Boxer."

 **Emerald:** "That doesn't answer my question."

No one spoke for a while. No one had the solution to that puzzle just yet.

 **Weiss:** "It seems we won't get anywhere on the why, so maybe it's best we move on."

 **Velvet:** "Sure, but do we believe it?"

 **Sun:** "I don't see why not."

 **Ren:** "Since Jaune isn't a suspect, we have no reason to doubt his word."

 **Jaune:** "Thanks."

 **Pyrrha:** "So we have a murder weapon but no idea why it was important to use or who used it."

 **Blake:** "But since we mentioned the fact that she was tied up. What was that rope all about? It looked... odd."

 **Nora:** "Yeah, it had like a couple of weights on it, like jumping rope."

 **Jaune:** "I think that's exactly what it was."

 **Ruby:** "There was jumping rope in the pool lockers." She cleared her throat before speaking, but the words still sounded coarse.

 **Velvet:** "So, the pool is involved in this too?"

 **Pyrrha:** "It couldn't, I was there with Jaune at the time."

 **Weiss:** "The killer could've easily gotten the rope beforehand. We found no evidence linking the two places."

 **Jaune:** "Actually..."

 **Weiss:** "What, did you hide any more evidence from us?"

 **Jaune:** "No! It was right there, you just couldn't see it because it was in the men's locker room."

 **Nora:** "But didn't she investigate the poil with Ruby?"

 **Ren:** "The locker rooms have an electronic lock that can only be opened with our Scrolls, just like the bedrooms."

 **Blake:** "So she couldn't have checked it even if she wanted to."

 **Weiss:** "Alright, alright, I'm right here! You can stop making my case for me."

 **Neo:** _"Anyway, what was in there?"_

 **Jaune:** "There was a rack of pool supplies in the middle of the changing room. I could swear it wasn't there yesterday, and it was broken. One of the legs was missing."

 **Blake:** "One of the legs?" She nearly jumped at him, gripping the stand with feverish devotion.

 **Jaune:** "Yes, why?"

 **Blake:** "Was it metal, chrome, two inches thick?"

 **Jaune:** "I think so."

 **Emerald:** "You look like you struck gold."

 **Blake:** "It's the metal pole used to impale Yang. The description matches exactly."

 **Sun:** "Wait, what?"

 **Ren:** "The pole did have a rubber end, like a foot."

 **Velvet:** "Is that even possible?"

 **Sun:** "How would you get if off?"

 **Blake:** "There are plenty of ways to break through metal. Corrode it with acid, melt it with a torch, even kicking it for long enough should be able to break a bar like that one."

 **Neo:** _"You've sure put a lot of thought into that."_

 **Blake:** "I... have had my fair share of troubles with metal bars."

 **Jaune:** "But using it as a weapon doesn't seem very practical..."

 **Nora:** "Why not? It's sturdy enough to use as a bat, and has long reach, to give you the advantage over an enemy who excels at close-quarters like Yang." For once, it seemed Nora was at her element: talking about weapons. It was a rare occasion, seeing her smithing talent come into use.

 **Weiss:** "Thus we can deduce that the killer was expecting a fight."

 **Jaune:** "And there was one. Smashed desks, the cut on her head and the scratches on her shoulder..."

 **Blake:** "Let's disregard the scratches for now."

 **Pyrrha:** "Why is that?"

 **Nora:** "Yeah, why shouldn't we talk about those scratches? Do they incriminate you?"

 **Ren:** "Blake claims that when she was attacked and drugged, she scratched her attacker."

 **Ruby:** "So you think Yang is the one who put you unconscious?"

 **Weiss:** "Isn't that convenient."

 **Blake:** "I... No, she couldn't have been the one attacking me."

 **Emerald:** "Huh, I half expected you to claim self-defense there."

 **Weiss:** "And willingly admit to the crime? Please, as if she would fall for that."

 **Jaune:** "Well, she couldn't have made it up. She hadn't seen the body yet when she told us what had happened."

 **Blake:** "And making that up to cover my alibi would only cast more doubt ovrr me, which is exactly what's happening. This is why I said we shouldn't bother with the scratches yet, there are to many pieces missing to make sense of it."

 **Ren:** "But we shouldn't ignore the possibility that Yang could've been the one to do it."

 **Ruby:** "Yang would never do something like that."

 **Jaune:** "She's right, what would Yang have to gain from it?'

 **Velvet:** "...maybe she was planning to kill someone."

 **Ruby:** "What?"

 **Emerald:** "Makes sense, when you think about it. Yang could use Blake being knocked out as an alibi for her murder."

 **Blake:** "If I was conveniently left unconscious just before a murder happened, that would make Yang the prime suspect!"

 **Emerald:** "Not if she pretended to be unconscious as well."

 **Blake:** "And why would the killer knock out the two of us but murder someone else? That makes no sense."

 **Emerald:** "..."

 **Emerald:** "Okay, guess you're right."

 **Jaune:** "So, Yang wasn't the one who attacked Blake, do we all agree on that?"

 **Pyrrha:** "I guess so."

 **Weiss:** "That much is obvious. Sun was evidently the one who did it.'

 **Sun:** " Hey, why me again?"

 **Weiss:** "Didn't we just determine that the metallic rod used in the killing was from the male changing room? Who else could've taken it?"

 **Ren:** "Sun, Jaune and Myself."

 **Nora:** "Ah, that's right, because of the electronic lock! Only boys can go in!"

 **Weiss:** "Precisely. Jaune has an alibi, and out of the two remaining only Sun had the opportunity, since he was the only one who knew about the handcuff situation."

 **Blake:** "..." She grimaced, the math visibly happening inside her head.

 **Sun:** "I... What..."

 **Weiss:** "See, he doesn't even have any defense left. Monokuma, can we get to the voting yet?"

 **Monokuma:** "Sure thing, princess. If you please would select the culprit from..."

 **Sun:** "Wait, no! I'm innocent! Jaune, you believe me, right?"

 **Jaune:** "I want to, but..."

 **Emerald:** "The evidence is kinda piling up on you, man."

 **Sun:** "Then we must be missing some part of the evidence! What haven't we talked about yet?" His knuckles were white from gripping the stand in panic, and his eyes wide in fear. Was it the look of innocence, or the last gasp of an animal cornered with no escape?

 **Ren:** "We never found out why the sound recorder went missing."

 **Velvet:** "Sound recorder?"

 **Nora:** "We found a recorder missing from the AV Room. Not sure what it was for, though."

 **Sun:** "That's right! I've never even been to the AV Room, so it couldn't have been me!"

 **Weiss:** "Is that seriously the best you can do?"

 **Neo:** _"Hey, let the man speak."_

 **Sun:** "Then what about the ropes?"

 **Ruby:** "They were from the men's locker room."

 **Jaune:** "No, but he does have a point. We never figured out why Yang was tied up."

 **Weiss:** "How does that change the killer's identity?"

 **Jaune:** "Maybe it doesn't, but it's still important. Like Ren said, she was put on display like someone was sending us a message. The way the body was placed, all that blood around it, there has to be a meaning..." His case wasn't rock solid, but it would buy the Ultimate Thief a few more moments. He knew too well how it felt to be put on the spot and wrongfully accused, so he wasn't going to cast a vote until every doubt had been resolved.

 **Emerald:** "A message? Like what?"

 **Nora:** "Enemies of the heir, beware!"

 **Ren:** "We don't know, that's the point. But if you want to get away with murder, why would you put on a show instead of hiding thr body."

 **Velvet:** "Oooh, I see. That makes sense... I think."

 **Weiss:** "So, what you're suggesting is that the culprit had a hidden motivation that we've all missed so far?"

 **Pyrrha:** "And where would that be hidden?"

 **Jaune:** "It's probably somerhing we overlooked. Maybe the position she was in? I'm not sure... Could also be all that blood splatter, or cut she had on her forehead."

 **Blake:** "Blood Splatter? What are you talking about?"

 **Jaune:** "Didn't you notice? There were blood stains on the floor, like five feet away from the body."

 **Blake:** "I didn't exactly have much time in there, before we were called for the trial."

 **Monokuma:** "Do you want to go back and investigate it again? Well, too bad! Should've done it while you had the chance!"

 **Sun:** "Can't you like, draw it for Blake to see?"

 **Jaune:** "I mean, I could..."

 **Weiss:** "Didn't Velvet photograph it? That would be much better than a sloppy hand-made drawing."

 **Velvet:** "Sorry, I only shot the body..."

 **Sun:** "Then I guess there's no choice."

 **Jaune:** "Ugh. Neo, do you mind?" The mute frowned menacingly at him, but lent him the notepad and pen.

The boy did his best to scribble the blood just like he remembered it. Good thing he couldn't get that gruesome murder scene off his head.

 **Jaune:** "Here you go. I hope that's good enough..."

 **Blake:** "Oh. That's strange."

 **Ren:** "What's strange about it?"

 **Blake:** "Are you sure this is right? That the blood is sprayed in that direction?"

 **Jaune:** "I think so, yeah."

 **Nora:** "Stop making suspence and tell us!"

 **Blake:** "The blood seems to be imploding from the middle of the room, like Yang was hit while she was there, and sent flying backwards."

 **Sun:** "That doesn't make any sense. What could possibly do that?"

 **Weiss:** "A fast and solid projectile could do that, like a spear or... Oh." Her icy-blue eyes widened in realization.

There was a general murmur of confusion in the trial room. The class appeared ti have figured something out, something big, but he couldn't quite make out what.

 **Jaune:** "Are you saying the metal leg was used as a throwing spear? Wouldn't that take, like, a ton of force? That's basically impossible!"

 **Weiss:** "Wait, does he not know?"

 **Pyrrha:** "No, he does not."

 **Nora:** "How? You're like super famous!"

 **Emerald:** "And he never even asked?"

 **Jaune:** "What are you guys talking about? Pyrrha?"

 **Pyrrha:** "They're talking about my talent."

 **Ruby:** "The Ultimate Olympian, isn't that it?"

 **Jaune:** "Olympian? As in the Vytal Olympic Tournament? Isn't that like the biggest athletic achievement of a lifetime?"

 **Pyrrha:** "Yes, it is."

 **Jaune:** "AND YOU WERE IN THEM?"

 **Weiss:** "She was, gold medalist even. Pyrrha Nikos is notoriously know for her skill in spear throwing."

 **Ren:** "So, if someone could've pulled this off, it's her."

 **Jaune:** "Whaaaaaaat..." He was feeling so lost in the midst of all that new information, that apparently everyone had but him.

 **Blake:** "Do you deny that you had the means to do it?"

 **Pyrrha:** "No, I guess I don't." She was oddly calm, considering where the conversation was quickly heading.

 **Ruby:** "Then it was you..."

 **Pyrrha:** "I was with Jaune at the time of the murder."

 **Jaune:** "That's right! Pyrrha couldn't have done it."

 **Neo:** " _Isn't that the exact same scheme Coco tried to pull?"_

 **Weiss:** "But no one else couldn't have done it."

 **Jaune:** "Hey, weren't you saying that about Sun too, like five minutes ago?" The singer glared at him with burning contempt, but didn't fire back.

 **Emerald:** "And isn't spear throwing done against straw dummies? You'd think Yang would be able to dodge a throw from so up close. She was a professional fighter, after all."

 **Ren:** "Not if she didn't see it coming."

 **Emerald:** "Huh?"

 **Velvet:** "Are you saying she had her back turned?"

 **Blake:** "That would be impossible. Yang was impaled from the front."

 **Ren:** "That's not it. She had a cut above her left eye, didn't she?"

 **Jaune:** "That's right, and it looked like it had been clean- oh."

 **Blake:** "If it bled onto her eye, it could impair her ability to react in time."

 **Weiss:** "But that still doesn't solve the problem of her alibi."

 **Pyrrha:** "Because I didn't do it."

 **Nora:** "Maybe we should be focusing on how Sun could've impaled Yang, then."

 **Sun:** "Hey, not this again!"

 **Neo:** _"You two are the prime suspects right now..."_

 **Pyrrha:** "We must be missing some clue, then."

 **Jaune:** "Maybe we should review everything we know."

 **Velvet:** "Okay, then."

 **Blake:** "The case started after dinner yesterday, when Yang and I asked Sun to unlock our handcuffs for a short period of time."

 **Velvet:** "Where did that happen exactly?"

 **Sun:** "On the second floor. Yang said she didn't want to risk Ruby walking in on it."

 **Weiss:** "So the killer had to know of this."

 **Sun:** "Either that, or they just happened to go to the second floor around that time."

 **Blake:** "But we didn't see anyone. Regardless, after being freed, I went ti the library, and that's when I was attacked."

 **Ren:** "Chloroform from the infirmary might've been involved, although we didn't find any."

 **Sun:** "And Blake was out for the rest of the night."

 **Weiss:** "Alledgedly."

 **Jaune:** "After that, the killer went after Yang. She was in one of the second floor classrooms, because she liked to go there to meditate."

 **Emerald:** "And the only people who knew about it were Jaune and Blake."

 **Ruby:** "I knew about it too."

 **Emerald:** "Yeah, but we're not counting you. Sun could've found out about it easily, also."

 **Nora:** "The killer brought the metal leg from the pool rack in the boy's locker room, to serve as a weapon."

 **Jaune:** "But I was there in the locker room, and there was no pool rack..."

 **Blake:** "So it must've been placed there after you left."

 **Weiss:** "Moving on, the killer fought with Yang, slicing her forehead."

 **Pyrrha:** "Then, they impaled Yang, but that didn't kill her, so they used a towel to finish her off."

 **Jaune:** "My towel."

 **Nora:** "Which also had to have been brought in by the murderer."

 **Velvet:** "That's a lot of pre-planning..."

 **Ren:** "After the deed was done, they covered the marks with her scarf, and cleaned up the bleeding above the eye. They didn't, however, clean up the mess in the classroom, the broken desks and the pieces of glass."

 **Emerald:** "What was that shattered bottle, anyway?"

 **Blake:** "Chloroform, probably."

 **Jaune:** "They also tied up Yang's arms with rope taken from the pool."

 **Weiss:** "And that's all there is to it."

 **Ruby:** "We only found her after the morning announcement."

 **Jaune:** "The... morning..." It was then that the pieces fit together in his mind.

 **Pyrrha:** "Are you okay, Jaune?"

 _No._

 _No, no, no, no, no._

 _It can't be._

 _This is all wrong._

 _I have to be misreading something._

Panic started creeping up on his face, and the more he thought about it the more it became clear.

But he didn't want to. He didn't want that clearness. He didn't want the answer.

Not that answer.

 **Ren:** "Jaune? Something wrong?"

 **Jaune:** "I... didn't hear the morning announcement..."

 **Nora:** "What?"

 **Neo:** _"What difference does it make?"_

 **Jaune:** "I always wake up with the announcement. It's really loud."

 **Emerald:** "Well, yeah, it's pretty obnoxious."

 **Monokuma:** "You kids never appreciate the things I do for you."

 **Weiss:** "What's your point?"

 **Jaune:** "What if the reason I didn't hear it is because it didn't play?"

 **Monokuma:** "Excuse you, my announcements are foolproof!"

 **Blake:** "Not if the monitor had been tampered with, is that what you're saying?"

 **Pyrrha:** "Isn't that against the rules?"

 **Jaune:** "Damaging or breaking, yeah, but covering the speakers would get it done."

 **Nora:** "Duct tape would probably be enough. I'm pretty sure there was some in the storage room."

 **Weiss:** "So what? Someone duct taped the monitor in your room?"

 **Jaune:** "Maybe. But the point is... If we can't trust one of the announcements, can we really trust the other?"

 **Ren:** "Ooooh, I see. The nighttime announcement could be fake."

 **Emerald:** "So that's what the sound recorder was for!"

 **Jaune:** "Exactly. If you recorded the nighttime announcement, you could play it whenever you wanted to create the illusion that it was later than it really is."

 **Velvet:** "But wouldn't you hear the real announcement back at your room... Oh!"

 **Weiss:** "Which essentially means Pyrrha's alibi is fake."

 **Pyrrha:** "So that's how it is."

 **Jaune:** "Pyrrha? Please tell me I'm wrong." She _smiled_.

 **Pyrrha:** "No, you are very right. I'm so proud of you, working together with everyone else. Your training has come a long way." Raising one hand, she moved the neckline of her sweater to the side, revealing a set of scratch marks over her shoulder.

 **Jaune:** "...Pyrrha?"

 **Weiss:** "Did she just admit it?"

 **Emerald:** "Looks like it."

 **Sun:** "But why is she so calm? She looks like she... won."

 **Blake:** "I'm curious, how did you bypass the electronic lock in the changing room? Your Scroll shouldn't have given you entry."

 **Pyrrha:** "That's simple, I just came in through the other side." She still distressingly unfazed, almost at peace.

 **Jaune:** "The other side? You mean from the pool side?"

 **Pyrrha:** "Yes. There's only a curtain separating the pool and the locker room. Not exactly state-of-the-art security."

 **Blake:** "I can't believe we missed that..."

 **Weiss:** "And why did you use the metal pole? Wasn't that even more incriminating, using the weapon you're famous for?"

 **Pyrrha:** "Obviously, I intended to use it as a bat, to knock her out. There wasn't supposed to be a fight, I wanted to take her out as painfully as possible. I did not expect her to endure it, it was… unfortunate..."

 **Emerald:** "Fuck..."

 **Pyrrha:** "And in case you were wondering that too, I knew about Blake and Yang no longer being handcuffed by mere chance. I was helping Ren with the dishes, so I stuck around, remember?"

 **Ruby:** "...why."

 **Pyrrha:** "Sorry?"

 **Ruby:** "Why? Why did you... kill her?" She struggled with her own words, tears beginning to form in her eyes again.

 **Pyrrha:** "She was a threat to all of us. She was going to kill sooner or later."

 **Ruby:** "That's not true! Yang wasn't like that!"

 **Pyrrha:** "Didn't she promise you she would get you out of here? How do you suppose she was going to do that?" Her calm started to dispell little by little.

 **Ruby:** "..."

 **Blake:** "You're demented."

Jaune could only stare in disbelief at that monster occupying the body of Pyrrha, so further from the kind and helpful girl he had met.

 **Weiss:** "Can we just vote now? She already confessed and everything."

 **Sun:** "I just... This feels wrong. Why is she so chill about this?"

 **Pyrrha:** "Because, like you said, Sun: I won."

 **Velvet:** "What?"

 **Pyrrha:** "If you vote me now, it will be the end of this school."

 **Emerald:** "The hell is she talking about?"

 **Monokuma:** "Oh my, this is getting interesting!"

 **Pyrrha:** "I killed Yang, there's no denying that. But I didn't do it alone."

 **Ren:** "You had an acomplice?"

 **Jaune:** "Don't you dare..."

 **Pyrrha:** "It was Jaune."

 **Ruby:** "Jaune? What is she talking about?"

 **Blake:** "The towel... That's why it was important to strangle her with it."

 **Pyrrha:** "You figured it out. Jaune gave me the alibi, he gave me the murder weapon, he even allowed me inside his room so I could silence his monitor."

 **Jaune:** "I DID NONE OF THOSE THINGS!"

 **Pyrrha:** "Yes, you did. You just didn't realize it at the time. You played a part in her death as much as I did."

 **Jaune:** "SHUT UP!" He grabbed onto the aching sides of his head, unable to come to terms with her transformation, with all the lurking horror she had hidden from him.

 **Weiss:** "So that was your plan? Have two murderers so that we would never be able to vote correctly?"

 **Pyrrha:** "Yes. We both killed her, so whoever you vote for, the other wins and goes free."

 **Nora:** "So we're all just going to die?"

 **Jaune:** "...you've got that wrong..."

 **Pyrrha** : "Did you say something, Jaune?"

 **Jaune:** "YOU'VE GOT THAT WRONG!"

 **Pyrrha:** "Huh?" For the first time since the trial started, she truly looked disarmed. Her green eyes were confused, and her calm semblance had been torn aside to reveal fear.

 **Jaune:** "You killed Yang, not me. Only you are the culprit!"

 **Pyrrha:** "But..."

 **Jaune:** "No, shut up! We asked Monokuma, Ren and I, because we were afraid Sun and Blake were working together on this case."

 **Sun:** "Hey, come on, man!"

Jaune: "You know what Monokuma told us? 'It only matters who dealt the killing blow'. That was you. This is all your fault."

 **Pyrrha:** "No! Jaune, I..."

 **Pyrrha:** "I only wanted to help you..."

 **Neo:** _"You killed someone just because you wanted to get the guy? Geesh."_

 **Jaune:** "I don't want to hear it. Monokuma? Can we vote now?"

 **Pyrrha:** "Jaune, I'm sorry. Please..."

 **Monokuma:** "Sure thing, kiddo. Let's get to it."

 **CLASS TRIAL – END**

* * *

The ten students pressed the buttons, not a single one even considering defiance. They had learned the lesson from Yatsuhashi, they could even still see his body falling on the floor and going limp. They couldn't see it literally, of course, but it was there when they closed their eyes at night.

Just as before, the giant screen descended from the roof and displayed the slot machine with their faces. It spun, and then it stopped.

It screamed in joy when Pyrrha Nikos' face lined up three times, victoriously throwing confetti inside the digital display. Neither of them shared the happiness.

When the claw came for the murderer, he looked away, refusing her the mercy off sharing his gaze one last time. She had betrayed them, she had betrayed him. She did not deserve pity. It didn't matter if she had fixated on him because he had no idea who she was and didn't care, it didn't matter if she loved him, it didn't matter whatever sick fantasy she had projected on him. She was a monster.

Only Ruby stared at her directly, through her tearful eyes. She wasn't angry nor resentful. She was scared, confused, deep in disbelief that the redhead had done such a thing, that someone who disguised as a friend could've taken her sister away.

"Jaune, I'm sorry… All I wanted-" She would never get to finish those words.

Her neck was grabbed by the claw, and she was pushed away into the darkness. The screen lit up, and the remaining class reluctantly looked up at it.

 _ **Zeus' Wrath**_

 _Ultimate Olympian_

 _Pyrrha Nikos' Execution_

The title card fell, revealing a much different image from the previous punishment. The screen showed a rocky mountainside, stretching above what they could see. There was a blue sky around it, and even clouds beginning to appear at the top, but it was clear that the lighting was artificial.

The redhead was hanging on in the middle of the steep climb, her fingers grabbing whatever protruding rocks were in reach. Although nothing had happened yet, her task was extremely clear: climbing.

Propelling herself with her legs, she reached for a rock further up the cliff, and then repeated the same process again and again, moving upwards little by little. It was then that the real trials began.

There was a loud thundering noise, and the blue sky quickly shifter to a darker shade of grey, much too fast for a natural reaction. Then the first flash came, and immediately after the roaring sound of a thunderstorm. The mountain seemed to shake, but Pyrrha grabbed on tight and stayed firm. Rocks began sliding off the top, falling near her, but she remained strong and kept scaling.

It was a breathtaking spectacle, watching the one-woman-army persevere when all the odds were stacked against her. The falling rocks were now boulders half her size, yet she still somehow managed to dodge them and not fall off the cliff.

As she was reaching the end, a platform in the mountainside that was plain enough to stand on, the thunder started to get closer. It hit once just above her fingers, forcing a chunk of the rock to detach from the cliff and take away the balance from that hand. It struck another just below her feet, forcing the girl to hold all her weight on just her arms.

She was so close. Only two more leaps, and she'd be there. A boulder grazed her shoulder, but she continued. Only one more to go. Her right hand grabbed on to the top, and she breathed out in relief, thinking the punishment was over.

It was then that the lightning hit her back. The sudden burst of electricity coursed through her whole body, turning her muscles rigid and immobile. Incapable of bending her fingers, she lost her grip.

And she fell.

The camera zoomed in tantalizingly slow on the floor down below, and the red paste that was left of the once mighty Pyrrha Nikos. Then the screen turned off, and the trial room was filled by the headmaster's laughter.

"Upupupupupupu. That was so extreme!"

It was hard not to feel revolted by what they had just seen, regardless of their conflicted feelings for the dead girl. It was hard not to be shaken to the core by what the bear had in store for them. It was so hard, and their hardships were far from over.

In hollow and robotic movements, they walked back in the elevator that would rise back to the school. There was nothing to say, no consolation for their despair. When the doors opened, Jaune reached out for the Ultimate Sharpshooter, but she slipped past him and disappeared.

He wondered if she blamed him.

He wondered if he blamed himself.

With no will or energy left in him, he unlocked and entered his room, falling limp on top of the bed. Sleep came eventually, but with it came the nightmares.

 **CHAPTER 2 END**

 **Students Alive - 10**

* * *

 **Props to Kratos1989 for guessing correctly who the culprit was.**


	11. Chapter 3-1

**Sorry about the delay :S**

* * *

 **Chapter 3 - Tired of Despair**

 _"It's all your fault."_

 _"You are nothing."_

 _"You killed Yang._

 _Jaune couldn't even look at them directly, instead staring at the floor on which he was sitting. He couldn't handle the weight of his sins._

 _"I didn't do it! It wasn't my fault!" He sobbed, although his eyes were dry. He clung to his knees, wishing to disappear from that oppressive darkness._

 _"You might as well have."_

 _"Ruby?" He glanced up, recognizing the voice of his friend. Her eyes were completely black, soulless but judging._

 _She raised a hand to smack him across the face. "I hate you!"_

 _He closed his eyes and accepted his fate._

* * *

The slap never came, and when he opened his eyes he found that he was once again laying in his own bed, drenched in sweat. He looked intently at the ceiling, knowingly fearing what he'd see when he closed his eyes.

It was all his fault.

Yang, Pyrrha, Penny... It was all on him. They were dead because he had failed, because he hadn't been strong enough. Because he was just a worthless, talentless boy. What wad the point in trying if all he could amount was nothing, if it always ended the same way? Wouldn't giving up be, in a way, a way to oppose Monokuma's schemes?

He forced himself to sit up on the bed and lean against the board at its edge, still wrapped in the blanket that had been torn from the rest of the bedding during his tumultuous night. What time was it? He hadn't heard the morning announcement... Ah, right, the monitor was still taped up to prevent sound. He considered getting up and ripping it off, but the mere thought made him feel without strength or energy. Sitting was all he could muster.

It was all his fault.

The festering idea refused to go away, forcing its way into his mind again and again. Jaune tried not to listen to it, but how could he not? There was nothing else for him to listen, no one to drown out the poison spewed by the depths of his mind.

No, that was a lie. He wasn't the only one to blame. Pyrrha was at fault too.

He still couldn't get his head around her betrayal. How could she have done such a thing? How could she have thought she was helping him by murdering someone? It made no sense, not to someone with any sanity left, even though his threatened more and more to crumble away.

But he still had failed to see what was right in front of him. Pyrrha had been kind to him, she had been his friend, but he hadn't really seen her, not for what she truly was. Maybe if he had, he could've prevented the killing. Maybe if he wasn't so worthless, Yang would still be alive.

Jaune closed his eyes, truly feeling just how tired he was. His head felt heavy, his lungs weary of the mere exercise of breathing, his arms too weak to even move. He didn't feel like going on.

And, for the first time since being thrown into that hellish academy, he cried.

* * *

 **DIIIIIIIIIING DOOOOOONG**

The boy raised his head from the blanket around his knees, and looked confusedly at the door. He had lost track of time, not that he had it to begin with, and the sound of the ringing doorbell was the first he heard from the outside world. It took him a little to piece together the source of the sound.

 **DIIIIIIIIIING DOOOOOONG**

He tried ignoring it, but the bell kept buzzing insistently. It was impossible to pretend like the sound didn't exist, so coexisting with it was out of questions. All that was left was answer the door or hope the intruder ran out of patience and took off on their own.

Groaning inaudibly, the Ultimate Lucky Student rolled out of his comfort bubble and dragged his feet towards the entrance. He was still wearing a t-shirt and some boxers, and that was as presentable as he was going to get. He unlocked the door, and pulled it open, wondering who could be on the other side.

A pair of silver eyes cautiously peeked in from the opening. When he made no attempt to close on her face, Ruby entered his room.

"Hi, Jaune."

"Hey, Ruby." He hadn't spoken out loud since waking up, so his voice came off rough and perhaps even a little masculine.

"You missed breakfast... And lunch..."

"Oh, I must've lost track of time." Jaune turned his face to the side, to avoid looking directly at her as best he could. "Sorry."

It was true, he had notion of how long it had been, or that he had already skipped most of the day. Having no windows really was taxing on one's sense of time.

"You should eat something."

"Why are you here, Ruby?"

"Huh? What do you mean? I was worried about you!" She did not take kindly to that question, her tone of voice shifting smoothly to indignation. She almost sounded like Weiss for a second.

"No, I mean... Don't you blame me?"

"Blame you? For what?"

"Yang..."

"Why would I blame you for that? It was Pyrrha's fault, not yours."

"But she did it because of me."

"Did you ask her to do it?" She walked past him and sat on the side of his messy bed.

"No."

"Then would it be your fault?"

How did she make it seem so simple? How could she turn everything to black and white?

He found that he had no answer, not to those questions or to hers. He sat down next to her, and sighed as if the whole world rested on his shoulders.

"You couldn't have known."

He remained silent. Her words reached his ears, but they didn't process into his head, falling flat like a shell devoid of filling. _I should've know. None one else could but me._

For a while, she too quieted down, the aura of tension filling the space between them. Then, with a flash in her silver eyes, the sharpshooter tried something else.

"Yang liked you, you know? Not like in a romantic way or anything, but… you trained with her, and she appreciated that." When he still didn't offer any reaction, she kept going. "'Jaune looks like a whimp, but he's actually got some balls. I just don't think he realizes it yet.'"

"Huh?"

"It's what she told me. She saw something in you, some strength that you don't know you have." Ruby looked at the wall in front of her instead of directly at him, but she had a faint smile on her lips.

"Well, she was wrong."

"Pfffffft, Yang was never wrong. She was smart like that, smarter that she let on." She giggled. "And besides, who was it that caught Pyrrha? You did. Coco too. You're strong, Jaune, we wouldn't have made it this far without you."

Before he could say anything else, he felt a pair of arms wrap around his chest. The unexpected contact made him jump, but he didn't push the girl away. It was comforting to know she still held him in high regard, even if he wasn't sure he could say the same himself. Maybe he wouldn't be healed just like that, but every bit made a difference.

"I miss Yang."

"Me too." He regretted saying that as soon as he did. It sounded stupid, like he was comparing her insurmountable pain to his, but she didn't make any attempt to scold or correct him. "She was so strong."

He felt her nod against his back.

"The strongest of all of us."

* * *

"Come on, we should go join the others." She moved away from him, leaving his skin felling lacking of her warmth. He didn't know how long they had been there, but he felt different. Knowing he wasn't hated had a way of doing that to someone.

"The others?"

"Yeah, they're investigating the third floor. We tried to wait for you, but you wouldn't show up so we decided that I would go get you and the rest would go on ahead."

"Thanks. The third floor was unlocked? I didn't know that."

She smiled at him. "Of course not. Now go take a shower, and then we'll meet them."

Ruby walked out the door, and he obeyed.

He felt like a different person when he left the bathroom, a new man. Like a snake that she it's skin, and now was ready to slither away once again. Or maybe a less scaly animal.

After getting dressed he took off from the room, finding the sharpshooter waiting him outside. She stretched her hands out to him, revealing an apple and a single cookie, a delicious brown with small pebbles of dark-chocolate, which he eagerly took.

"Sorry, I… kinda ate the other cookies. You took so long!"

He chuckled softly, slowly regaining his energies, and together they made their way to the second floor, where the new staircase awaited them, free of the restraining metal bars.

The new area waiting atop the stairs felt immediately distinct from the ones they'd been to before. The walls were painted in a soothing green, quite unlike the greys, whites and crimsons of the two lower floors. It appeared more inviting, although not in a way that it would give them too much hope.

The hallway of entrance stretched to both sides of the staircase. He stood at the center, struggling to choose which side he wanted to investigate first. Seeing his indecision, Ruby walked ahead of him, and approached the only door on the corridor wall. It was a simple wooden door with a circular glass window at face-height, well, at least the height of his face; Ruby's was only a tad above the bottom. She pushed inside, and he followed.

The new room wasn't big, but it was well populated. Between a pool table, a couple of sofas arranged around a coffee table, and a dusty arcade machine, there wasn't a lot of empty space. The walls were checkered in black and blue, with two magazine stands leaning on them, and a dart target hanging near the coffee table.

There were two other students already in the room: Sun was standing by the wall, staring curiously at a nearby ventilation opening, whereas Nora was distracted by the newcomers.

"Jaune! Ruby! Come check this out, it's so cool!" She was just a bundle of energy, wasn't she?

"What is this place? It looks like a bar..."

"The map in the Scroll calls it the Recreational Room. Finally, some fun to be had in this place!"

"Well, that's new." The sharpshooter made a distrusting grunt at the idea that Monokuma would just simply let them have fun, to which he had to agree. It was mighty suspicious.

"What do you think, Sun?"

"I wonder if I could fit in there..." The monkey faunus didn't move, still looking at the vent.

"What?"

It was only then that he realized there were other people around. "Oh, sorry, did you say something?"

"Ruby thinks this is too fishy."

"You're probably just being paranoid. Come on, we've earned a break, haven't we?" He casually walked in their direction, stopping by one on the magazine stands, where he let his fingers slide across the leaflets available. "A distraction will be nice for a change... Hey, is that a deck of cards?"

"Did you say cards?" Nora perked up, impatiently waiting for him to grab the item from in between the magazines. When the deck came in full-view, she grinned and dashed out the door. "Be right back!"

The three classmates traded confused glances, but ultimately there was nothing to do but wait for her to come back to understand.

"So, you don't think this is a trap." Jaune returned to the prior topic, feeling there hadn't been any satisfyingly closure.

"I mean, the library and the pool weren't traps, were they? I doubt you can kill anyone with the darts in here." Sun shrugged.

He did have a point, so far it had not been the rooms themselves proving to be the danger, but what could be found in them. In this specific case, the pool cues were slightly menacing-looking, and the arcade could easily crush someone if tipped over. The threat was present, but it required a human hand to be real.

With a slam of the door, the blacksmith came back with a bewildered Emerald in tow, pushing the green-haired girl towards the middle of the group.

"Cards. Do your thing."

"Wait, what is..." She took a little to register where she was and what was being requested of her, around the same time Jaune, Ruby, and Sun realized it. "Huh... Which one do you want?"

"I don't know, you're the magic one! What do you got?"

"Guessing cards, make them disappear, you name it. Hell, I can even read your future with these." She reached for the pack, and took the deck out of it, commencing to shuffle it. The cards were flowing from one hand to the other almost like a liquid, the sheer skill of it was mesmerizing to watch, and she had yet to begin a trick.

"But those are only playing cards, don't you need tarot ones for that?" Sun voiced his doubt, but it was clear in his focused eyes he was curious more than skeptical.

"Of course not." She took the first card from the top, and flipped it for the rest of them to see. "A ten of spades. It means you should shut the fuck up."

"The oracle hast spoken!" Nora raised her hands to the heavens in praise, making the sharpshooter and the luckster chuckle. Sun himself made a defeated expression, letting his fluffy tail down in shame, but did not protest.

Ruby was the one who made the decision. "Making a card disappear sounds neat."

"Alright, watch closely."

Em parted the deck in two, them shuffled it back together. Spreading the cards in a wide fan, she gestured it towards the short girl.

"Pick one."

Doing as she was told, she took one card out and looked at it. Jaune couldn't resist a peek. It was a Queen of Diamonds.

"Now put it back in." She shuffled the cards for not more than a couple of seconds, then removed one card from the bottom and flipped so that they could see it but she couldn't. "This is the one, right?"

It was. "Isn't it supposed to disappear?"

She flicked her wrist in a flash, and the card was gone. "Calm down, pretty boy. Trick's not done yet. Here, if you're so impatient, why don't you shuffle them for me?"

He took the deck from her hands, and nervously shuffled it, parting it in small stacks and mixing them back in. With all eyes on him, pressuring him and following his every move, the clumsiness took the best of him, and the cards slipped off his hands, scattering all over the floor.

"Jaune!"

"I'm sorry!" He hurriedly began gathering them back from the ground, still felling their gaze now burning into him with accusation. As soon as he managed, he got back on his feet and presented the mess of a deck back to the illusionist. "Did I ruin it?"

"Nah, I think it can still be salvaged." She didn't grab the pack, but instead laid one hand above it and closed her eyes, humming like she was in deep meditation. "No... It's not... Dammit Jaune, where did you put it?"

"Huh?"

"The card is not here."

He looked at the floor, but saw no stray cards still laying in it. "I don't..."

"You stole it, didn't you? Trying to make me look bad!"

"I swear I didn't!" It was like an episode of a bizarre soap opera, and both Nora and Ruby were solemnly quiet, wide-eyed waiting for the next dramatic reveal.

"Then what's that in your pocket?"

"In my..." He dove on hand into his front jeans' pocket, and to his surprise found a smooth piece of paper. When he took it out, it was the Queen of Diamonds.

Sun and Nora began clapping, while the young sniper gasped in shock and slapped him on the shoulder. "You stole it?"

"No! I didn't..."

"And that's the disappearing card." Emerald took a bow, and then walked towards the door laughing loudly.

"Wait, how did you..."

"Magician's never reveal their tricks." She chuckled once more and left through the door, taking the deck with her, in an obvious attempt to enhance the spectacle with a dramatic exit.

"Did she…use you for her trick?" The monkey faunus looked like he was trying to contain laughter, which was evidently due to Jaune's completely desolate face.

"How could she have known I would drop the cards?"

"Oh dude, she read you like an open book. Sucks to be you."

He didn't have a retort for that. He felt stupid, transparent, like nothing but a cog in someone else's game. It wasn't an unfamiliar feeling, considering their circumstances, but it was even more unsettling coming from another one of the students. Sure did a good job reminding him of his place.

"C'mon, I think we've seen everything there was here." The sniper took pity on him, offering him a way out, and he gladly took it, still hearing the sound of their loud chuckling as he closed the door.

They continued through the hall, twisting and turning with its corners, until reaching the next room. It was a normal entrance, without hardly anything of note to it. The inside, however, was not as conventional.

It looked oddly like someone had blended the gymnasium and a classroom together, in a creation that was similar to both but not quite either. It wasn't as wide and empty as the gym, but enjoyed from too much free space to be a classroom. The floor was made of wood, small rectangles that fit alongside each other in a diagonal pattern, and the walls a faint pink, just like the six square pillars scattered across the area. There was a stage on the farthest side, wooden as well, but on top of it, instead of a podium, there was a white marble statue of a woman with no arms. A handful of tall stools were standing before the stage, hiding behind an easel for each. The back wall was covered in an ensemble of stickers, drawings, and magazine clippings, creating a cloud of nonsense bright colors, and above all that was the ever-present monitor and camera.

"Looks like some sort of art class."

"That's because it is." Weiss Schnee shot back at him from across the room. He hadn't even noticed her, or Neo right next to her, but she clearly had a much shaper radar for spotting talent, or the lack of it.

"Do you think Monokuma is going to teach us how to draw?" Ruby was as always oblivious to the quarrelling, or perhaps she preferred to ignore it.

"Somehow I doubt it."

"Then what's the point in giving us an Art Room? None of us are artists."

"Excuse you, music is a form of art!" Weiss stomped her foot down indignant.

The pink-haired girl beside her burst out laughing, although no sound came from her, which was, in all honesty, a little uncanny. After settling down, she began quickly scribbling on her notepad, so everyone else waited for her to finish. _"The art room was probably here before Monokuma came, from when this was a school."_

"So, you believe the bear's story."

Neo shrugged. She had no reason not to believe it, and that didn't seem to bother her. Was it possible that she truly didn't have anyone waiting for her outside?

"I mean, it's pretty wild, but..."

 _"What difference does it make? We're trying to get out of here either way."_

"But should we?" All eyes fell on Ruby, failing to believe she had actually said those words. "If Monokuma's right, and everything's destroyed outside, should we even try to escape? There might be radiation and stuff..."

Jaune had no answer for that, for he had thought about giving up many times by then, but luckily Weiss had a few disagreements with it, as she always did.

"So what? We're just supposed to roll over and die here? You got a letter too, so someone outside is waiting for you. Apocalypse or not, every one of us has something to come back to outside, and I will not give up until I get out of this Oum-forsaken school. I'd advise you do the same." With that said, she left the rest of the group.

Nobody said a thing, still mulching over the heiress' monologue. She had a will of iron, he'd give her that, or at least was very good at pretending. And she also had a point, whatever was on the outside, there was a chance, however small, that it was better than a murder school. It was something to fight for, for those who still had some fight left in them.

Ruby was the first to move away, walking up to the stage where the statue watched over them. Despite seemingly deep in contemplation, she still acknowledged him approaching from behind.

"Almost looks alive, doesn't she?"

"Not really... She doesn't have any arms."

"People without arms exist too!" She made a little pout at his dissonance, without ever taking her eyes off the sculpture. "Can't you just imagine her starting to move? Like a real girl, talking and breathing?"

"A girl made of marble sounds pretty silly..." He didn't really get her point, what she meant with those words, but the statue really was beautiful. It had probably been made by an Ultimate Sculptor or something like that, someone with a talent that he did not possess and could never dream to achieve. And that was sublime in its own unachievable way. "But yeah, I guess you're right."

The silver-eyed girl finally turned to him. "So, I guess this room doesn't have any clues either. Or a way out."

"What about that door?" He pointed at the one on the right side of the room, near the corner with the back wall.

 _"Storage mostly, and a few workshop utilities."_

"Come on, let's go check it out." Ruby pushed him toward it, and he reluctantly agreed.

The workshop was significantly more compact than the room it was annexed to. The walls were mostly covered by three long waist-high tables, and there was a tool-board mounted above one of them, proudly display an assortment of tools from which a set of large wooden hammers stood out the most. On top of the right table was a large metallic cube somewhat akin to an oven.

"Is that another incinerator?"

"Looks like it."

"Great another way to dispose of evidence. That's just great." He glared at the accursed thing, not even bothering to hide the bitterness in his words. Everything looked like a potential weapon or clue, and that was really spoiling his mood. He really didn't want to go through another trial.

The sniper, on the other hand, was looking at the hammers. She stretched her hand to one, the smallest of the set, and grabbed it.

"Oh, it's way lighter than it looks." Even if it was the most diminutive, the head of the hammer was almost half the size of her head. She bopped him on the head with it.

"I don't like this place."

"Alright, let's go then. We still haven't found Blake or Velvet." She placed the hammer down on the table, and led the way back to the outside.

Right after the door to the Art Room, there was a small alley in the corridor, and that was where the pair headed next. There were no other entrances to be found there, but a flight of ascending stairs blocked by metallic bars.

"Guess there's still a fourth floor, huh?"

"Yep. How big do you think this school is?"

"Not much bigger, I hope." He didn't need to elaborate, she understood the reason. Besides, he still felt tired, and there was a limit to how much climbing one could do. Monokuma could've at least built them a damned elevator.

They returned to the main hallway, and followed it to its conclusion, upon where waited a white set of doors. Without a moment to waste, Jaune pushed them open, and stepped within the new room.

There were machines everywhere, monitors and buttons covering every metallic surface of the extremely grey-hued room. Apart from a couple of green stained-glass cabinets and a similarly colored door, everything else seemed to be engines and machinery, in a decor straight out of a futuristic comic book. At the center of that robotic hellhole was yet the most jarring piece, a large glass sphere connected to a dozen of translucid tubes that in turn led to other pieces of gadgetry, like a brain held up in the air. Blake Belladonna was standing next to it, staring at it intently, and Velvet moving around, taking pictures as she always did.

The pair of newcomers approached them. "What is that thing?"

"No idea." The cat faunus grimaced. She had no more answer than they did, and that fact clearly didn't agree with her.

"It looks important. Maybe it's an energy generator?" The photographer stooped to face them, lowering her camera.

"Huh, that sounds about right. Something needs to be powering up this whole— MONOKUMA?"

The four students turned, and found the bear frozen just before them, like a deer in the headlights. Without so much as a word, the mascot dropped the sheet of paper he was holding in his hands, and slowly backed away as if that would make him harder to notice.

"What the hell?" Jaune bent over to pick up the paper. "These are schematics for something called an… Industrial Air Purifier?"

"Wait, did you say purifier?"

"So, is this thing, like making the air in here breathable?"

"That's what it says on the paper." He shrugged, feeling too much pressure from the questioning. He didn't have all the answers, he just happened to be the one catching the clue because he was closest to it.

"There's also a chance he's playing us…"

"I think we should probably consult with the other before making any decisions." The terrorist's voice was trying to seem uninterested, but she was clearly still upset about not knowing more.

"Okay, so what about that door?" He pointed to the small inconspicuous frame at the back of the lab.

She only shrugged, which would seem to imply there was nothing important beyond it, but the Ultimate Lucky Student wanted to see for himself. Twisting the doorknob, he walked in with Ruby in tow.

The annex seemed to be another storage unit, and a mostly empty one at that. There were two carts for moving large objects around, little more than a platform on wheels and a handle, a bunch of cardboard boxes piled up in one corner, and two large bookshelves. Notepads, more boxes, and some folded up vinyl sheets, but nothing that seemed to be of any use to them, or, luckily, of any use to a murderer either.

It wasn't the most exciting room, but for once it didn't leave Jaune feeling discouraged when he left it. They took another look at the large machine at the center of the laboratory, but ultimately gave up on finding any more clues about how it functioned.

Already having investigated the whole third floor, he and Ruby decided to head back down, bringing the two faunus along with them. Maybe someone else had been luckier than them.

* * *

"Anyone find anything interesting?" Nora broke the silence at the dinner table, speaking through her food-filled mouth.

It wasn't common for them to be this quiet, but these were hardly common circumstances. Wounds were too fresh, and the new floor had provided more questions and little comfort. Regardless, they _had_ found something interesting.

"Well..."

"You could say that." Ruby and Velvet responded at the same time, then awkwardly stopping to let the other continue. When neither of them did, Emerald took over for them.

"Two more classrooms, nothing noteworthy about them." Ren nodded by her side. They surely did not need any more of those, especially since they had no actual classes. "But the lounge looks kinda alright, I guess."

"Lounge?"

Sun picked up, since he knew more about the matter. "Yeah, the first door across from the stairs is some kind of recreational room. Has a pool table, darts, lots of neat stuff."

" _Strangely nice of Monokuma_."

"You said it. What about the rest of you guys? Or girls, I mean."

" _Art Room. Nothing interesting_."

Weiss agreed. "Some canvas, some painting tools, a furnace, but nothing that looked us-"

"Did you say furnace?" Nora slammed her hands on the table, sending silverware flying through the air. It took the other girl a moment to recover from the sudden scare, before answering.

"Yes,"

"Why am I just hearing about this? I gotta go check it out!" She leapt out of her chair, intent on darting to the door.

"Nora, wait." Blake raised her voice, but remained as class as she usually did. When you had seen the things she did, it took a lot to phase her.

"But I wanna goooo!" The ginger girl whined as a small child would, pouting her lips just slightly. Blake, once again, didn't seem to care.

"You're going to want to hear this."

"Why are you so psyched about a furnace anyway?"

She looked at Jaune with a mix of disbelief and dumbfoundedness. She didn't even seem to be able to find the words, such was the stupidity of his question. "I'm... A blacksmith... I need a furnace to do my thing?"

"Oh, right." He felt appropriately idiotic. How could he had forgotten she was talented and remarkable? They all were, all except him

"So, Blake, what did you want? Make it quick."

"We found a physics lab. There were a lot of machines in there, most of which we're not sure what purpose they serve. But..." The cat faunus raised her hand, knowing she was about to be interrupted. "...we do know the purpose of one of them."

"You mean the air purifier?" Velvet completed the thought as if they had scripted it.

"Air purifier? What's that?"

"From what I can tell, it's an engine that filters out impurities to make sure we don't run out of oxygen here."

"Run out?" The redhead seemed confused, as did most of the others, which was certainly understandable. Breathable air was the thing people most took for granted in their lives, and the thought of it running out was hard to grasp.

"Are you saying if that thing breaks down we all suffocate to death?" Emerald's tone seemed almost scornful, like she didn't actually believe what she was saying.

"I does seem likely, if you think about it." Ren didn't raise his voice, but everyone was silent enough that he could be heard. "The school is locked out from the outside, even the windows are tightly sealed. If there's no way for the air to flow in and out, then it stands to reason that it's a limited resource."

"Exactly. And besides, if Monokuma was saying the truth and the air outside is full of radiation, we really do need the purifier to stay alive."

"You can't really believe that." The green-haired magician scowled at Blake, something that apparently made Weiss glad.

"I'm with Emerald on this one. We should never trust what that idiotic bear says, much less some far-fetched fairytale about the end of the world. Besides, there's no way the Schnee family would fall down just like that."

" _But what if it is true? We should consider that possibility_."

"We can't know for sure, so what's the point? It'll only get us more depressed " Sun sipped his cup, that he for some reason insisted in grabbing with his tail despite more than one cry from Ren about it being unsanitary.

Nora grinned amusedly. "I'm sensing a divide here."

"Huh?"

"About whether or not the world outside is boned. Blake and Ren clearly believe it, Em, Weiss and Sun don't. What about you, Ruby?"

"Me?" She was caught off-guard, it didn't even look like she had been listening to the conversation happening at the table. "I believe it, I guess..."

"Me too."

"So, Jaune and Ruby are also Team Apocalypse. Who's left, Velvet? Neo?"

"I don't know... Like Sun said, it's impossible to say for sure."

" _I don't really care. It makes no difference_."

"Oh, c'mon, you can't be neutral! Stop spoiling all the fun!"

"You say that, but you haven't really picked a side either." Emerald sounded annoyed, although if that was from being on the losing side or just a generalized anger, it was hard to tell.

"Oh, I don't buy it either. I mean, everything exploded, and I wasn't there to see? Like that would ever happen." She smiled proudly at her logic.

"Really? That's your argument?"

The discussion did not progress further, however, as a familiar yet dreaded sound came from the speaker at that very moment.

 **DING DONG DING DONG**

 **"All Beacon students are called to Gymnasium immediately. Failure to show up will be met with severe punishment."**

The hostage class of Beacon traded unsure glances. They wanted to keep the discussion going, there was still much to be said on either side, but they knew better than disobeying their captor after what had happened to Yatsuhashi. Besides, there was no way the mastermind was dropping another incentive just one day after the previous case had been concluded, right?

They soon found themselves in the empty gymnasium, a room that has brought them nothing but bad memories. Without warning, although it was to be expected by now, a platform began loudly descending from the ceiling, carrying the headmaster atop it. There was, however, something different about it this time.

Money. Copious amounts of it.

Piles upon piles of notes, stacked up higher than the bear's height, taking up most of the platform. It was evident that was the reason Monokuma hadn't shown up by his own two feet, but most of them failed to realize it at the moment. They were too entranced by that extravagant display of wealth.

There was an allure to seeing so much money in one place and so close to reach, more money than any of them had ever seen in person, even Weiss. Maybe it was a natural instinct, maybe it was a product of their environments, of growing in a society that valued riches above nearly all else, but it was absolutely bewitching nonetheless.

"Alright, last trial left me feeling pumped, so I figured maybe we could jump straight into the next one, so it's time for another incentive!"

The class broke out of their daze in perfect synch, but the bear ignored all of their vocal protests. Jaune himself wasn't complaining, he felt to stunned for it. They had just made it out through the last death, without even being given the proper time to process it, and he was already asking for another one?

"This week's incentive is: Cash! Dough! That delicious green stuff! Specifically, ten million... huh... What do you call your currency again? Gald? Credits? Yen?"

Ren was the one who answered. "Lien."

"No, I'm pretty sure that's your name. Are you named after money?"

"No, my name is Lie Ren, not Lien."

"Yeah, that sounds fake. Can anyone confirm?" Monokuma rubbed his furry chin with uncertainty.

The rest of the class answered asynchronously.

"He's right."

"Yeah, that's true."

"Why is it called Lien anyway?"

"Hell if I know."

"TEN MILLION LIEN!" The headmaster interrupted the increasing banter, requiring their attention again. "TO THE ONE WHO COMMITS THE NEXT MURDER! Provided you survive long enough to collect, of course."

"Didn't you say the world outside is destroyed? What would we even do with that money?"

"I don't know, blackjack and hookers? You kids are young and in your prime, come up with plans on your own!"

"He's running out of ideas, isn't he?"

"Hey, screw you kids! I worked hard for all this money! You think it was just stealing from a candy store? These ratings don't make themselves, y'know!" The plushy waved his hand menacingly, but he just ended up sounding like bitter old fisherman yelling at the advancing technology around him.

"Ratings? What's that supposed to mean?" Sun wondered aloud, voicing the question shared by the rest of them.

"Are we... in a TV Show?"

"Upupupupupu, I can't tell you that yet, it'd be spoilers..." The platform upon which the headmaster stood began rising slowly.

"Hey, where are you going!"

"Come back here, we want answers!"

But he did not respond to any of their questions, and soon faded from view up in the ceiling. They stopped calling out for him, knowing they'd get nothing except more silence, but Nora hadn't given up yet.

"WE KNOW YOU'RE STILL UP THERE! COME BACK AND FACE US, YOU COWARD!"

"Wow, wow, Nora, you okay?" Sun grabbed her shoulder, trying to contain the storm she appeared to be brewing.

She looked back at him nonchalantly. "It was worth the shot."

"So… what now?"

There was a tense silence in the gym. The class traded a couple of words, promises that they wouldn't fall prey to the incentive, but it all rang hollow.

Jaune wanted to say it was a stupid motive, that none of them would commit murder for such a flimsy incentive, but after seeing it happen twice already, it was hard to keep up hope. One of them could already be planning something, because when push came to shove, they didn't truly know each other.

The others were probably thinking the same, how could they trust someone whom they had known for so little time? And it was that very same distrust that would be their downfall.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

 **Students Alive - 10**

* * *

 **POLL IS NOW CLOSED  
**

 **Thanks for sticking with this mess of a story.**


	12. Chapter 3-2

**I guess I upload once a month now. That sucks, I don't want to take a whole other year to finish this story, for both your sake and mine. _*cries internally*_**

 **Towards the end of this long long chapter, you might notice that Ren's backstory doesn't quite match the canon from Volume 4. It's based on a headcanon I had from before the end of V4, and it's what his "dates" have been building up to.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3.2 - Despair Normalcy**

Woken up by the announcement, Jaune immediately regretted having removed the tape from the speakers in the night prior. Monokuma's voice sure wasn't pleasant to the ears, especially not when it was the first thing one heard in the morning.

After getting ready, he made his way to the cafeteria. Most other students were already there, a group that still felt as lacking in numbers as ever. Eight, counting with him.

As the boy sat down at the table, Sun barged in through the door, coming in a little less late than usual. Perhaps he too was worried about any possible casualties.

"That makes all of us, right?" Emerald asked loudly, to no one in particular.

"Nora is still not here." Weiss was the one to respond, the first they heard of her that day.

"Huh, that _is_ weird. Nora is usually one of the...first..." The realization struck him like a speeding truck, and was almost just as painful.

 _The incentive._

 _No, no, no, no, no! She can't..._

He darted off his seat, taking off towards the door with no explanation other than the sound of his chair toppling on the floor. He was almost out when the chef called out for him.

"Jaune, relax. She's fine."

"Huh?"

"Nora's working in the art room. She came by before the rest of you showed up and asked if I could bring her something later." Ren pointed at the untouched plate of pancakes.

"Oh, that's good... I just thought..." His outburst felt silly now that it had been explained, and the eight pairs of eyes on him at the moment were only furthering his embarrassment.

"But if you're worried, why don't you go ahead and take it to her?"

"I… Sure." Anything was preferable from remaining there for much longer, basking in his pathetic little freak out. He grabbed the platter and headed out.

Upon reaching the Art Room, after some juggling to avoid spilling the baked goods all over the floor, he found it empty. No Nora in sight, but instead noise could be heard coming from the storage room annexed to it. He approached the door, and knocked with the free hand before getting in, wary of what he'd find inside.

"Ren?"

He slowly slid the wide plate first, hoping the sight of the food was enough to quell the inevitable disappointment.

"Oh, didn't expect you, Jaune." Her voice didn't sound too bummed out, or maybe his last remaining pride kept him from discerning it.

The girl was sitting by on a tall stool that kept her feet from reaching the floor, next to one of the wooden tables, but if he didn't know it was her he might not have recognized the person in front of him. The pink skirt she favored was still there, but that was where the similarities ended. Instead of the bright orange hair there was a handkerchief covering her entire scalp, and her green eyes could just barely be spotted behind a pair of translucid protective goggles. She had a pair of thick grey gloves on her hands, and covering her torso was an apron that probably had once been white.

"Well, at least you brought the stuff." She got up her seat and dashed in his direction, holding out her grubby paws to the food.

The luckster took a step back, trying to place the pancake platter away from her reach. Nora could've easily outplayed him to get to it, but she got the message loud and clear.

"Oh, right. Oops." The blacksmith chuckled before removing her mask and gloves. Beneath the protective layer, her hands were much cleaner than the rest of her skin.

"So..." He watched her dive in to the tower of pancakes with a giddy glint to her face. "What are you doing up here?"

"Smithing!" Well, technically that's what she intended to say, but in truth it came out as little more than grumbling muffled by her stuffed mouth, yet Jaune managed to somehow understand.

"What are you...making?" He didn't really get blacksmithing, especially not in that day and age. Vale had long since abandoned iron and steel sword as their means of combat, thus the once vital trade had faded into nothingness.

She slipped yet another piece of food into her already bursting mouth, and turned around, shuffling through the many tools and materials scattered across the table. After a few seconds, she grunted victoriously, and presented him with a small dagger.

"A KNIFE? NORA, WHAT THE HECK?"

The redhead looked confused as to why she was being scolded, and she swallowed in a big gulp to be able to speak properly again. "What? You gotta make a lot of iron daggers to level up!"

"Huh?" Level up? What was she talking about? "You made a weapon! Something that could be used to..."

"Ooooh, that's your problem!"

Jaune watched in horror as Nora gripped the handle of the dagger, and brought the blade up to the inside of her left palm. His heart skipped a beat and time seemed to slow down as she dragged the edge across her hand. His breathing was erratic, but he found himself immobile, unable to rush to stop what she was doing.

She raised her hand to his face, proudly displaying the product of her actions. It was completely unscathed.

"See? It's dull, silly! You couldn't cut someone with it even if you tried."

"Don't...ever do that again..." He struggled to calm down, his stomach still revolting from that short burst of panic.

"Oh, settle down, you big baby." She laughed heartily and resumed her snacking.

He turned his attention to the scattered tools around the "workshop", but that did nothing to ease his nerves. Monokuma's incentives had a way of putting him on edge, considering how effective they had been so far.

"Sooooo… blacksmithing?"

"What about it?"

"I don't know, how did you get into it? Seems like a dying trade." He hoped she wouldn't take it as an insult, considering she had a knife in her hands. "Was it because of your parents?"

"Nah, my parents died when I was little. Like, real little, I barely remember them." She didn't seem bitter or mournful, in fact she didn't seem to care much.

"Shit, I'm sorry. I didn't know." _Does anyone else in this class still have living parents? What kind of sick god keeps killing all the parents?_

"It's fine, it was a long time ago." He was used to Nora being carefree, but this was completely uncharted territory. Did she really not care, or was that her way to dissuade him from asking further? Either way, it was probably best not to press any further.

"Then, why smithing?"

"Why? Because swords, axes, spears…" She practically shivered with excitement. "...Greathammers!"

"Not guns, huh?"

"Guns are no fun! They're ugly and are way too hard to make."

"You still haven't answered my question." What the hell was even this conversation?

"I know. You're not ready to unlock my tragic backstory yet." She overdramatically clutched her hands against her chest, to emphasize just how tragic it was. Either that or she was screwing with him. Probably the latter.

"Now go, food bringer. Begone, I must work!" Definitely the latter.

Without a clue on what he'd just gone through, Jaune trotted out of the art workshop. The sounds of whizzing and whirring resumed as soon as his back was turned.

* * *

When the afternoon arrived, the plain blonde found himself wandering aimlessly again. Despite getting new areas and rooms with each death case, there was a strict limit to how many things he had to entertain himself, particularly considering the presence of cameras in almost every room, which was very inhibiting. Thus, quite unlike himself, he once again decided to seek company to pass the time. However twisted she might have been in the end, Pyrrha did have an influence on him, and her contributions weren't any less real for it.

After some consideration, he opted to search for Ruby. She had been there for him, even in a moment of such immense pain, it was only right to retribute. It didn't take long to find her. She was inside the rec room, sitting on one of the sofas, with a couple of darts in her right hand.

As he walked in, although there was no correlation since the couch placed her back to the door, she flipped one of the bolts onto her left, and with a confident movement of her arm pinned it right at the center of the target that hung on the wall.

Jaune stopped for a moment, impressed by her prowess, and watched as she repeated the process with the other two darts. Just like the first, they both landed right in the central area, sticking out so close to each other that they looked like they might fall off. Precision and perfect depth perception, she truly was the Ultimate Sharpshooter, even if there was no sniper rifle in her hands.

It was only when she got up to retrieve the arrows that she noticed he was standing there. "Oh hey, Jaune. Didn't see you there."

"Hey, Ruby. How are you doing?"

She shrugged and gave him a faint smile. "What about you?"

"Same." There was no point in pretending, or mincing words. They were hurting, and that kind of pain, however different it might be, didn't just go away. All they could do was pick themselves up and keep moving forward. It was all they had left.

The girl sat back down, and pointed one of the darts at the board, closing her right eye in the process. It was almost annoying how she still managed to land a perfect hit despite the absent-minded expression.

"Must be harsh not to be able to practice." He sunk onto the sofa next to hers, melting into the soft fuzzy surface. It was blasphemous how comfortable that thing was, like a hug of bliss that threatened to carry him to sleep if he stopped talking. Or maybe it was just the sleep deprivation talking.

"I am practicing." She threw her tongue out at him.

"Yeah, but it's not the same, is it?"

"No, it's not. There's no recoil, or the feeling of having such big, hard, heavy thing in your hands."

 _Too innocent..._ He desperately tried to change the subject. "Have you ever...shot anyone?"

Her silver eyes faced him, locked halfway between wide disbelief and indignation. "Of course not! What the heck, Jaune?"

"I'm sorry! I just... You're a sniper, and..."

"Yeah, but I don't _shoot_ people! We used stationary targets, and plates for practicing on moving things." Ruby toyed with the dart on her fingers, no longer bothering to throw it.

The blond boy didn't say anything, considering carefully on his mistake. He had been curious, of course, as to how deep her sharpshooting experience went, but it had hardly been tactful to phrase it that way. Death was still too fresh of a topic inside that school, and they couldn't count on that too change soon.

"There was an offer, though..."

"Huh?"

Ruby appeared stunned, as if she hadn't realized she was thinking aloud. "Oh, there was... Like a year ago, some men came up to me with an offer. They were from the military, and wanted to offer me a position."

"Holy crap, seriously? What did you say?"

"I said no. Yang wouldn't let me either."

Of course she wouldn't. Army life was not at all the brawler's style, and she wouldn't wish the strict regimen and constant brainwashing on her dear sister. It was one thing to fight, and to enjoy doing it. Killing was another altogether.

"I wanted to change the world, you know?"

"Huh?" He was still deep in thought, so her sudden change of subject caught him unaware.

"When those men came, they pitched it to me as become a hero for Vale. It... sounded so nice. I used to dream of being a hero when I was a kid. Of helping everyone and saving the day." She sighed, her shoulders bearing more weight than any fourteen-year-old should. "I might've accepted if it wasn't for Yang."

"…"

"What am I going to do now that she's not here? Who's stopping me from getting into trouble because I'm so childish?"

"Ruby…" He reached his hand for the girl, and she turned in reaction. Tears were forming on the underside of her wide silver eyes.

"Penny, Yatsuhashi, Yang… Why couldn't we save them?"

Before he could even begin to form a coherent answer, the sniper sprung from her sofa and plunged her face onto his chest. His arms griped tightly around her body. She shuddered, but did not cry.

"Why wasn't I strong enough?" Her voice was so faint, he barely made out the words.

"It's not your fault. You didn't do this to them." _Practice what you preach, Jaune._

"I know, but… What good is being special, an Ultimate, if you can't help those you care about?"

He almost chuckled. _I wouldn't know._

"It's not over yet. We'll get Monokuma."

"Do you p… I hope so."

They stayed around the lounge for a while, not feeling like facing the rest of the world just yet. He showed her his pitiful dart throwing skills, managing to somehow miss the target altogether, and she attempted to give him a few pointers. By the time the afternoon became evening, he was already doing much better, blindly hitting inside the colored circles, rewarded with a round of gleeful applause.

There was little he could do for Ruby other than keep her company. She was strong, and she was already healing, pulling through.

Their free time together didn't evolve much from there, and they ended up heading towards the cafeteria together. Despite all the difficulties, the class still had yet to fail in gathering for every meal, even right after each trial, when they felt the most vulnerable. Maybe it was a sign that they could heal, that they could persevere. Or maybe it was just a testament to how spectacular Ren's cooking was. One would think they'd gotten used to it by now, that carefully-prepared delicacies had become the norm to the point of blandness, but that was not the case at all. Perhaps it was because of how much they'd lost, that even the trivial things they could rely on were given so much more intensity.

* * *

 **DING DONG DING DONG**

 **"Gooood morning, everyone! It is now 8 am. Time to get up and face another day."**

With no response to the incentive, normality seemed to be setting back in. That morning, Jaune woke up to find that his wardrobe's contents were dwindling. He'd have to wash his clothes soon, or there'll be nothing fresh for him to change into anymore.

Wash clothes. For a moment, it almost felt like he wasn't in a twisted murder game. Like he was just another teenager learning the ropes of the world. Like wounds could heal, and life go back to what it once had been.

Not that chores were fun. After getting some food in him and returning, Jaune picked up a pile of his clothes, as large as he could fit into his arms, and walked out of the room, barely able to make it out the door. He couldn't quite see the way ahead between the blockade of jeans and t-shirts, but he already knew the hallway by memory, and as long as no one crossed paths with him it would be fine.

And so it was that he made it to his destination unscathed and without causing any fatal accidents. He did his best to maneuver through the jumble of obstacles on his way to the washing machines.

"Hi, Jaune."

"Velvet?" He peeked out through the laundry bundle, and was able to see just the two rabbit ears over her head. She giggled at the effort it was taking him, although he couldn't really see that either.

His legs bumped into one of the laundry machines, and he crouched to open it, pouring all the clothes into it indistinctly. Pressing the buttons like Pyrrha had taught him, the machine began a low rumble, and he finally turned to see the rabbit faunus there with him.

Velvet was wearing a loose brown t-shirt and a pair of black shorts, sitting by the central table, hunched over a disassembled camera. She wielded a cotton swab in between her fingers, with which she appeared to be cleaning the inside of the machine parts.

"You really like photography, don't you?" _Real smooth, Jaune._

"I do..." She stopped tinkering with the gadget, and raised her eyesight towards him, only to turn it away immediately after. "You know how they say a picture's worth a thousand words? Well, I...huh... I'm not very good with words..."

 _Me neither._ The boy beamed his best smile at her, trying to sound convincing. He might not be gifted like them, but he could appreciate all the wonderful things they did. "Could've fooled me."

"Oh... I... Thanks." She lowered her face back to the camera, probably to hide her rapidly blushing cheeks, but turned back again with an inquisitive look. "You're not going to..."

"What?"

She didn't finish the sentence, but he noticed her lightly touching her ears. Was that what she meant?

"You thought I was going to comment on your ears?"

The faunus nodded. "Everyone does."

"What do they usually say?" _Oooooh, boy, that was_ _ **not**_ _the right thing to ask._

"They call me a... freak, or an animal, or... ask me if I like to..."

That conversation was heading off the rails fast, so he acted on the very first idea he had to make it stop. He grabbed her arm, and spoke in a mix of reassuring and panicked screaming.

"It's okay! I wasn't going to ask any of those things!" It was rough choice of words, an inadequate attempt, but it was also earnest and she seemed to settle down a little.

 _She's not shy, she's scared._ It was a heartbreaking thing to realize about someone else, that they'd been living in a world where anyone was a potential attacker, and nowhere was safe. He couldn't even begin to imagine what that was like, making all of his problems feel small in comparison. Why was it that every one of his classmates seemed have some form of darkness lurking beneath the surface of their smiles? Was that the price of being exceptional, the toll required to be called an Ultimate? Perhaps he didn't want to be talented after all.

"Huh... What do you...like to photograph?" He wanted nothing more than to run away, to escape that interaction filled with awkwardness, but he also didn't want to just leave her like that. If he didn't at least try to show he was harmless, the rabbit faunus would probably remain frightened of him forever.

"...everything." She didn't really offer any more explanation than that.

"Even this school? I mean, wouldn't you want to forget?" Velvet was always snapping pictures, probably the one amongst them who acted on her talent more often, which puzzled him. Why would someone want to immortalize their fear and pain?

"I think... I think we shouldn't forget. There is so much darkness, but...there's also light. Friendships, moments of quiet, gestures of selflessness. Those things matter too, don't they?"

"Oh... I hadn't thought about it that way." It was odd, that the shyest student among them would be the one to hold those strong-minded opinions. Perhaps it was another byproduct of her isolation.

"There is beauty to be found in the horrible and unbearable. That's why I photograph."

He was left speechless, disarmed by the depth and kindness in her words. He hadn't signed up for a philosophical and emotional moment, yet he had been taken on one regardless. There was so much more to the rabbit girl than met the eye, so much more than first or even second impressions. Or perhaps she was pulling his leg all along, and if so she was doing a fine job of it.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said that." Her long ears dropped down, trying to cover her face being their brown fur, and her briefly confident eyes retreated back into defensive mode.

"No, no, I'm glad you did! It was very interesting!"

Her irises glimmered for not more than a second. "You really think so?"

"Yeah. I'm glad you told me."

"Thank you."

Silence fell between them, and he felt it was best not to say anything else. Their conversation had ended in a good note; and of he kept pushing his luck, his lacking social skills would end up undoing all the progress conquered. In a way, the quiet was fine too. It suggested respect.

He waited for his laundry to be done, stuffing it into a basket for ease of transport. Clumsily, while lifting it up, he bid farewell to the rabbit faunus, and she directed him a smile in return. A genuine smile, and not one hid by the display of her camera.

With the clothes on hand, he soon found himself just by the entrance to his room. He lay the basket on the floor, slid the Scroll over the lock, and then picked it up again. Just as he was about to enter, however, a voice called out for him.

"Jaaaaaune, what's good, homie?"

Jaune ceased to turn the door handle, and peered over his shoulder confusedly. A similarly blonde boy moved close to him, too close, and slid one arm over his shoulder.

"How about you and me get some quality time today?"

"What are you..." He jumped when Sun's hand quickly slid in and out of his jeans' left pocket, almost dropping the basket from his fingers.

"Great, it's a date! Meet me in the second-floor bathroom in ten!" And then he strode off just as hastily as he had come, offering no explanation whatsoever.

 _Did he just hit on me?_ The luckster was utterly lost as to what had just stormed past him. Should he go meet the thief? In a bathroom of all places? Was Sun really thinking... what it seemed like he was thinking?

Instinctively, he reached one hand into his pocket, and found inside a piece of paper that hadn't been there before. Picking it up and unfolding it, a clearly hand-written message was revealed.

 _"Need to talk where Monokuma can't listen to us."_

"Huh? Where..." _That's right! Bathrooms have no surveillance cameras!_ But whatever could Sun have to tell him that needs such secrecy?

By one circumstance or another, one might even call it the vote of fate, he hadn't really ever hung out with the pickpocket. The well-toned boy seemed decent enough, with a cheery and carefree personality that never wavered despite the terrifying things they'd witnessed in that school. Perhaps it was his own way of being strong, but it didn't explain why he had picked Jaune to share this new classified information. Why not Blake, or Emerald, people with whom he clicked way more evidently, or even Velvet or Neo. Now that he thought about it, Sun sure was popular with most girls. Not that romance was _really_ on the table for them, due to the climate of tension inside the academy.

With a tinge of curiosity, and an equal amount of worry, the Lucky Student obeyed the instructions after dropping off the laundry in his bedroom, and went up to the second floor, where the door to the bathrooms awaited. Swallowing away his impatience, he pushed it open and walked in.

"Damn, what took you so long?" The faunus was sitting over the plastic wall that separated the stalls, a flimsy barrier that didn't at all look ready to withstand the weight of a person. He only had a pair of jean shorts on, which ended well below the knee, but didn't appear fazed by his semi-nudeness "It's cool, you're here now."

"You wanted to be away from the cameras, right?"

"Yep. I've been snooping around, and I think I found something." He patted the stall door with his hand, signaling towards it.

"Wait, in here?!" What could he possibly have found in the bathroom?

"Yeah, why did you think I called you? I couldn't exactly invite anyone else into the _men's bathroom_. Blake would've probably stabbed me."

"What about..."

"Ren? I don't know, man... He's always so quiet, it weirds me out."

"You think he's the mastermind?"

Sun shrugged, before jumping down to his level. "Maybe, maybe not. But I know you're fine. Framed mates, right?"

"Heh, I guess that's true."

"Anyway, come check this out." The shirtless boy led him to the last stall, pushing the door so he could see.

There was no toilet inside, but an assortment of brooms, buckets and other cleaning tools. Nothing suspicious, at least nothing that jumped to sight.

"It's a broom closet?"

"No, no, look behind that junk."

Jaune followed the direction of his finger until the back wall of the stall, and moved in closer to inspect it. It was then that he spotted the outlines of what looked like a small concealed door. "Is this..."

"A secret tunnel!"

"What's on the other side?"

"Take a look for yourself."

Reluctantly, but oblivious of how easily he was falling to what could be a set up for murder, the boy removed the cover from the wall, and crawled on all fours through the narrow passage. It wasn't too long, so he quickly arrived at the end of the road.

No longer constricted by the tight walls, Jaune got up and looked around. He was in a room shrouded in shadows, making it hard to tell which part on the school he had crawled into. The only source of brightness was a faint red light coming from the right wall, which did little to cast away the surrounding darkness, but in turn was doing a terrific job of exponentially enhancing the ominous atmosphere.

His eyes gradually adapted to the lack of light, letting him discern the furniture within. There was a desk and a chair approximately at the center, and a shelf resting against the back wall. It was almost like office, except one that had no windows, doors, or any other conventional means of entry.

Why would it be hidden, though? It was a strange thing to include in a school's layout. Was it perhaps because it was the office of the mastermind?

Energized by that possibility, Jaune scoured through whatever he could find.

A whole ten minutes later, he would have found nothing apart from two books atop the desk, the environment too dark for him to read them. The drawers were locked, the shelf empty, and the chair had no secret mechanism waiting to be unfold as far as he could tell. It was annoying, infuriating, that they could get the taste of a breakthrough at long last, only to have it be hollow.

In a fit of rage, the luckster kicked the chair until it toppled over, and then grabbed the books and headed out. It felt like they had been played, like the mastermind had deliberately given them that feeble hope, only to squash it mercilessly.

After crossing the dark vent tunnel, he rose on the bathroom again, where Sun awaited him.

"What's that?"

"The books that were on the desk, I brought then to see if I could read them here where there's more light."

"You couldn't... Oh, right, I forgot you guys can't see in the dark."

The cogs and gears in his head began turning all of a sudden. "Do you... Do you think the mastermind is a faunus? Since only faunus can see in there?"

"No way! Blake is kinda scary, but she wouldn't do this, and same goes for Velvet, she's so sweet and harmless." He didn't even put a second thought into it, answering instantly. His faith in his classmates was that strong, or perhaps it was a silent bond shared by their kind.

"It's...not you, right?"

"Bruh."

"Alright, alright. Sorry." The disappointed glare shot at him was uncharacteristically intimidating.

"There's probably a light switch in there and we didn't see it, or it's powered in the central board. Also, the guy behind all this might not even be one of us. Wasn't there like a headmaster or something?"

"Ozpin?"

"Yeah, that! He could be living in the upper floors, and controlling everything from there."

"I guess so." He wasn't convinced, but it was likely they weren't going to find a better answer so soon.

"Anyway, let's see those books."

Jaune lifted the tomes that he'd been griping against his chest. " _Surviving an Irradiated Wasteland_ and _Psychology and Psychiatry 101._ What the hell?"

Sun grunted in agreement, and picked up the second volume. He flipped through the pages in a blur, his blue eyes flashing through the content in an inhumane speed. "This is just gibberish!"

 _Or maybe you're just not smart enough to get it._ Although the Ultimate Lucky Student doubted he would understand any of it either.

Instead he checked out the remaining book. It was a survival book, apparently written by someone who piously believed that humanity was doomed to face the zombie plague. With varying levels of trustworthiness, it offered basic instructions on how to build shelters, makeshift water purifiers, and even recipes from scavenged ingredients. It had little to no literary value, but might've been a useful tool to have in case of catastrophe.

"Is the outside really…" He only noticed those thoughts were being spoken out loud when the monkey faunus asked about it.

"Huh? Found something?"

"Dunno. It's a survival guide for extreme conditions."

"Ah, right, for the supposed wasteland we'll find outside."

 _Oh, yeah, you don't buy it, do you?_ In the fight over the state of outside world, Sun had sided with Emerald, whereas he had been on the believing side.

"Whatever, let's just put these back where we found them."

"What? You're not going to show them to the others?" What was he on about?

"And let Monokuma know we found his secret hideout? Are you nuts?" Sun picked up the two books, and moved to the entrance of the tunnel.

"But we need to tell someone!"

"I hear ya, but…who? Who do you really trust enough for this?" Before any answer could be uttered, the thief crawled in the vent and disappeared.

* * *

Dinner went by in a blur, conversations and jokes all flying past him. He looked at the faces of each classmate sitting at the table with him, unable to keep that fateful question away from his mind. Who did he trust among them?

Ruby would be the first choice, obviously. He had spent the most time with her of all the students, and they got along quite well, even despite the pain both been forced to endure. But was she the best choice? The young girl was, well, young and already facing more than she should. Last time he'd been alone with her, she'd ended up in tears. Maybe that new piece of information would give her the reason to keep fighting, to persevere, but was that a risk he was willing to take?

Perhaps Blake? She was fast-witted and perceptive, and had played a key role in helping them solve the various killings. If anyone could handle the knowledge and do something with it, it was her. Unlike with Ruby, however, the matter was trust was much more complicated. Could she really be trusted? And even if he decided to, would she be able to trust him back? Try as he might, he couldn't figure her out, which greatly dampened a potential reliance.

Ren? Apart from the sniper, he had been the one Jaune had spent the most time with. He felt some form of bond forming between them, even if it was one built on little words. Sun didn't really trust him, but the luckster knew better. He could trust Ren.

Making his decision, the boy was surprised to find himself back in his room. Amid the considerations, the meal must've ended and he mindlessly walked back there. Leaving the comfortable bed who called for him behind, he took off.

He would find the cook sitting in the cafeteria, enjoying some time to himself, away from the busywork of being their resident nutritionist.

"Ren, I was just looking for you."

The dark-haired boy nodded to acknowledge his presence, and took a second cup from the tray next to him, placing it next to the one he already had prepared. Without a word, he grabbed the teapot and gently poured into both small cups, before pushing one of them in Jaune's direction.

"Thanks." He pulled up a chair in front of the dark-haired man, and accepted the tea.

"We get to keep our clothes on, for once." There was hardly a trace of humor in his tone, but that didn't mean it wasn't intended as a joke.

"Heh, you've got that right." The blond sipped from his drink, feeling his lips burn at the touch with the steaming liquid. "So, there was something..."

"You want to know the rest of the story."

"Well, that wasn't... Of course, I do. You can't just drop the bomb that they tried to kill you and leave me hanging, man." That wasn't what he had intended, but he wasn't about to pass on a chance to know the chef more deeply.

Ren sighed. "My family... Well, I guess 'tribe' would be the better word..."

"...tribe?"

"I was born in a small community of wanderers. We were never in one place for long, instead we roamed from town to town. Children weren't really _raised_ by their parents, but by the whole clan. So, in a way, there were all my family."

"Wow..." It was hard finding words. He didn't know such communities actually existed, and they were so radically distinct from his city upbringing. How was it possible that the same world could encompass such different lifestyles? "Was it rough?"

"I don't know. Was yours? A child doesn't really have a point of comparison, so it's hard to tell what truly is rough or not."

He had no retort for all that philosophical mumbo jumbo. "So, how did they..."

"One day we came upon a village that had been destroyed. Houses crumbled, wreckage everywhere, and also the bodies, I couldn't tell what had happened but it was clear that it had been a disaster."

The cook paused, and he didn't press on. He knew the details would soon follow.

"We salvaged what we could, and left. There was no one left we could help. Or so they thought."

"You found someone?"

"A girl, must've been around my age, hiding under the ruble, waiting for us to leave. She was coated in mud and dried blood, but at least she was alive."

"Who was she?"

"Don't know. She never told me her name, or spoke in any manner. She was terrified, and starving. There was no way to know how long she'd been there all alone."

"I wanted to bring her along, but... The clan would've never allowed it. So, I did all I could. I gave her some food, all I could carry without being noticed, and small knife that my father had given me, so that she would have something to defend herself if need be. Not that she was in any condition to."

"..."

"After that we took to the road again. It didn't take them long to notice that supplies were missing. I refused to tell them why, afraid that they would go back for the girl. Out leader, Raven, didn't take kindly to that. She said I was weak, called me a weasel for conspiring behind their backs. That'd how I ended up being banished."

"...banished."

Ren snorted, an uncharacteristic moment of emotion. "They left me behind, with a warning of what would happen if I followed. I was eleven, that was practically a death sentence.'

 _So, that's what you meant by 'tried to kill' you._

"How did you make it?"

"Foraging and hunting. Chose a direction and kept walking for days until I made it out of the woods. There was a village there, Kuroyuri, where a man was kind enough to let me work in the local inn."

Hardly kind to make a child work for the food he eats, but Jaune could hardly call it out. Life was so different outside the large cities, where civilization wasn't as advanced, and people lived much closer to their ancient roots. Besides, having Ren talk so openly was a victory, interrupting with criticisms would've been unfair and unwise.

"I swept floors, but when I could I would sneak into the kitchen. Maybe it reminded me of a home I no longer had." His expression didn't waver, coldness that would've made Weiss Schnee proud. "The innkeeper didn't like it, but he liked what I made. It wasn't long before I became the main chef."

"Business must've boomed. I mean, I've tasted what you can do." He smiled.

"I didn't have the quality ingredients I have here, but yes, it did. I was able to end up enrolling in school because of it. The rest you already know."

Chosen into Beacon as one of the Ultimates, which placed him in the mutual killing game with the rest of them. Not a happy ending, although not necessarily an ending.

"And what happened to the girl?"

"I don't know. I went back for her, but she was long gone. Never saw her again. I can only hope she made it."

"Oh..."

Ren reached for the teapot, and refilled their now empty cups. "That's my story."

"Thank you... You know, for telling me. I know you don't usually talk this much, so...thanks."

The other boy smiled, but didn't offer any verbal answer. Which was fine, not everyone communicated through words, and he respected that, especially after the mess he had made of his own.

They drank together, and in the quiet moment of companionship he ended up forgetting about the secret room on the second floor. He would only recall it again later in the night, after finding himself back at the entrance to his room just as the nighttime announcement blasted through all nearby speakers.

 _Oh, well. I guess there's always tomorrow._ He closed the door behind him, and dragged his feet to the bed. It had been 48 hours since Monokuma's incentive announcement, and everyone was still alive. There was still hope for them after all.

 **DIIIIIIIING DOOOOOOONG**

The Ultimate Lucky Student was just about to plunge onto the mattress when the doorbell suddenly called out to him, beckoning his presence. Malcontentedly, he slid his pants back on, and retreated to the entrance.

When he opened the door, no one was there waiting for him. Just an empty red hallway, completely quiet. Confused, he went inside again, and finally noticed the slip of paper on the ground at his feet. Jaune crouched down and picked it up.

 _"I found a way out. We'll all meet in the Rec Room in 1 hour. Keep quiet, Monokuma might be listening."_

 _WHAT? A way out?_ Was it possible that they had found an escape after all that time? He had been there when they searched the Recreational Room, did they overlook anything? It all sounded too good to be true, that the prize they had sought since the first day had actually been found, but again, he had seen with his own eyes the secret room inside the second-floor bathroom. Monokuma, or rather, whoever was behind him, was just as prone to failure as any other human. Of there was a way out of that damned school, Jaune wasn't going to be left behind.

Seconds seemed to take so long to pass until the indicated hour. He tapped his knees impatiently, checking the time on his Scroll in a constant frenzy. He _had_ to know. It might be a trap, he wasn't deluded enough to think otherwise, but he was going nonetheless. He couldn't give up hope.

The door almost ripped off its hinges when he stormed through as soon as the time came. The gnawing in his stomach was unbearable, that unease, that need to know. Were they finally going to escape that dreadful game?

The stairs were but a blur, and he was standing on the third floor before he knew it, just by the door to the lounge. He pushed on, entering the darkened room.

"Where is everyone?" Despite the agreement, it was empty. Which could only mean one thing, yet the realization came too late.

He felt a burst of pain coursing from his neck, but before any reaction could be formed, the world turned black, and Jaune Arc lost consciousness.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

 **Students Alive - 10**


	13. Chapter 3-3

**Hey, huh...It's been a while. Over a year. Life...happened, and I stopped writing for a long time.**

 **But here I am again. This story never did stop bugging me until I finished it. And I still do hope to finish it. It will take some doing, though.**

 **I don't know how many of you are still here, after such a long hiatus, but if you are, thank you for coming back with me on this road. The wait may have sucked, but I hope you still enjoy these haha**

* * *

 **Chapter 3.3 - Mindless Despair**

 **DING DONG DING DONG**

 **"Gooood morning, everyone! It is now 8 am. Time to get up and face another day."**

The bed was soft and comfortable, much unlike the world outside the bedroom door. She didn't want to leave it, and might've actually succumbed to that temptation were it not for the stinging pain in her mid-riff. Yang had always said breakfast was the most important meal of the day, although the very same girl insisted on refusing her cookies for that meal, so maybe it was all an elaborate ruse. Nevertheless, she bounced off the mattress, and proceeded to get ready.

It wasn't long before she was out the door, having a short body did have its advantages, namely how little time it took to wash it. Not that she was short, she was a decent height for her age. Growing up would certainly come with time, although after the last few weeks she hardly felt like her age anymore.

The cafeteria was quiet, not a lot of people inside it that morning. Weiss enjoyed a cup of tea on one end of the table, while, at the other, Nora did her best to entertain Velvet and eat abundantly at the same time. Ren was probably in the kitchen, the boy's incomprehensible dedication meant he barely ever left it.

She tried to take a seat somewhere around the middle, in an effort to bridge the two parties. However cold the singer insisted on being, she still had hope that it would eventually thaw. That and Nora was making a mess as usual, and it was best not to get caught too close to the blast radius.

"Hey, Ruby." The rabbit faunus, of all people, was the one to address her, with a wide smile that was unexpected from her, but certainly welcome. Velvet wasn't commonly open with her emotions, which was a shame, she looked quite cute right about now.

"Morning." She grabbed a piece of toast, spread some strawberry jam on it, and began gradually devouring it.

Despite the idle chat made by the students, there was a strange stillness in the air, like the calm before the storm. Monokuma had been quiet for much too long, and that could only spell disaster. But, of course, those back-of-mind thoughts that the short sniper felt as she ate her nutritious meal never evolved to more than that, as it was morning, the time where brains don't quite work like they should. Perhaps otherwise she might have seen coming what was obviously lurking around the proverbial corner.

One by one, their class assembled; first Emerald, who treated herself to a cup of deep black coffee; then Neo and finally Blake, neither of which seemed very interested in the food in front of them. Breakfast was more of a ritual than an actual meal, carrying with it the nervousness of finding who had gone missing. And this time someone was indeed missing.

It took her a minute to realize Jaune wasn't present. He had almost become furniture by now, reliable and _always there_ , but today…he wasn't. Her mind immediately rushed to conclusions, how could it not, but she tried her best to keep them at bay. Jaune had to be okay. He had survived too much to fall prey now.

Excusing herself from the table, Ruby left her classmates behind and began her search. They, of course, knew what was happening, just arriving to the same realization themselves, but by nature she wasn't keen on waiting.

She began with his room, repeatedly slamming her slender fingers on the doorbell. Her heart pounded faster with each second that the door did not open. After a few seconds of excruciating impatience, she dashed away from there too. That feeling, that pit in her stomach, it had to be quelled as soon as possible, or she'd go insane.

Her mind raced even faster than her feet, struggling as she climbed up the stairs to come up with a place where the boy could be. The pool? No, he wouldn't go back there after what had happened with Pyrrha. The library or the physics lab? He had no reason to go to either of those.

 _The Rec Room!_

Jaune liked video games, right? And there was an arcade there, it made sense! Yes, that was exactly where she'd find him, no doubt. Reinvigorated by that blatant denial, the Ultimate Sharpshooter ran as fast she could to the third floor, bursting through the door of the lounge.

"Jaune?"

What she found inside was not Jaune Arc. Or, at least, it did not look like him.

It didn't have golden hair, short and poorly kept. It didn't have hopeful but sad blue eyes. That thing wore his clothes, the black bunny sweater and the jeans, but otherwise how could it be him? It didn't have a head! Jaune clearly had a head last time she saw him.

The door behind her creaked open, and a pale white figure walked in. Upon seeing the corpse, Weiss made a sigh that sounded more disgusted than grief-stricken.

Weiss walked past her, and approached the body without looking away. She sighed once more, and proceeded to crouch next to those mangled remains.

"What are you doing?"

"The same we always do. Investigating."

The dryness of those words, that untamed honesty, sliced right through her denial. It was real. He was dead.

Ruby clenched her fists, feeling the nails dig into her skin. Tears came, but she forced them away. She couldn't. Not now. Jaune wouldn't have cried, and neither would she. Not yet at least.

Breathing in and out deeply, she calmed herself as best she could. Her voice still came out cracked nonetheless. "S-Shouldn't we tell the others?"

"They're not stupid. They know." The heiress grimaced, but continued to examine the body.

 _Right, the trial. We're going to have to do it again._

With a heavy heart, she nodded and moved back near the body of her friend. Her throat clamped at the sight, but she forced herself to continue. Now was not the time to be a child.

The most striking thing about the scene was, of course, the **Headless Corpse**. Where Jaune's friendly and goofy face had been, now there was nothing, the neck ending abruptly in a rough mess of shattered bone and torn flesh. By the looks of it, he hadn't been beheaded in one swift move, it had likely taken a repeated bashing to get it done. It was ghastly just to imagine, and the sharpshooter found herself breathing in and out deeply to maintain composure.

A quick glance over the shoulder revealed that Weiss wasn't inspecting by the body as well, but instead looking at her Scroll with a grave look on her face.

"New Monokuma File?" The other girl nodded. "What's it say?"

She proceeded to read aloud its contents.

 **Monokuma File N°3**

 _The body was found at 9 AM in the Recreational Room._

 _Time of death was 12:15_ _AM_ _of the same day._

 _Death was caused by a cut to the throat, which in turn led to bleeding and asphyxia._

 _Additionally, severe trauma was inflicted on the neck and head._

The silence that fell between them didn't last very long, as Ruby mentally cross-checked that information with what she'd seen so far. It didn't match. "Huh?"

"You have something."

"It says his throat was cut? But..." The girl turned again to the former Ultimate Lucky Student, feeling the smell and gore assault her senses once more.

Reluctantly, she stretched her finger towards it, letting no more than the tip touch the crushed neck. The flesh was tough and cold, nothing like what a human being should feel like. By then it had become completely rigid, making her task harder, but slightly more bearable. That _thing_ wasn't her friend. She wasn't looking at Jaune, poking at his remains. He was warm, and that thing wasn't. As long as she kept telling herself that, maybe it would be possible to see that investigation through to the end.

"Wait... There's something here." Amidst the torn skin and bone was a slender line, too straight to masquerade with the mismatched destruction. A cut running from one side to the other. "Eww."

 **DING DONG DING DONG**

 **"A body has been discovered. Get your detectives hats out, because we'll be holding a trial soon!"**

"What the- No..."

Ruby was briefly disoriented by the influx of new sounds, turning her head to find Nora just by the door to the room. She was livid, the faint pink her cheeks usually displayed from excitement was washed away into a milky white of terror. Her hands were balled into fists, veins protruding from skin due to the strength she was putting into the gesture.

Behind her was Lie Ren, whose distress was subtler, yet present just the same, his thin mouth twisted into a strange grimace. For a second, all four of them stayed quiet, until the chef cleared his throat and spoke.

"We split up looking for you. Emerald and Neo are on the second floor, Velvet and Blake got the first, and we came up here." He ran them through any details they had missed, detached and business-like.

Nora nodded absent-mindedly, barely paying attention to what was being said.

"I should go warn the others..."

"Wait." Weiss interrupted the blacksmith's retreat with a decisive tone. "Tell them what we found, but ask them to stay where they are. If everyone's already spread out, that makes the investigation easier."

"I... Okay, I will." Nora didn't object, clearly wanting to get out of there as soon as possible, and disappeared outside in a flash.

The black-haired boy, now companionless, took one last look at the body, and began walking away as well. "I'll check the rest of this floor, then."

Just the two of them once more, the heiress kickstarted the previous conversation. "You were saying?"

"There's a cut here, hidden between all that gross stuff." She pointed at the **Neck Wounds**.

"So, the killer smashed his head to prevent us from knowing cause of death? In that case Monokuma wouldn't spoil it like that, there has to be another reason."

Ruby pondered, but found no clear answer. By the pondering look on her partner, the girl hadn't had more luck.

"This doesn't make sense."

"Huh?"

"If his head was smashed to smithereens... Where's the blood? The room looks a little too spotless, doesn't it?" Despite her choice of words, it was clear she didn't expect an answer. It was more like she was talking at Ruby than to her.

The sharpshooter looked once again at the **Clean Floor** around them. It wasn't exactly sparkling, but it wasn't as full of blood and brain matter as would be expected. Most of the blood was, in fact, on the victim's clothes, splattered across his sweater and jeans, and not on the surrounding area. It appeared to be a normal room where a body had been dropped, and not so much like a crime scene.

"Then... did it happen somewhere else?"

"Seems like the most logical conclusion." The heiress nodded.

"But where?"

"That's what I expect the others to find out."

She looked again at her dead friend, deep in thought. There was definitely something up with that case, like there was a really obvious clue they were missing.

"Huh? What's that?" Her eyes caught on to something, a hint of purple just peeking beneath the right sleeve.

She crouched down and rolled the sweater up his arm. Just below the wrist was a large bruise, purple wrapping around the arm. She didn't have a lot of expertise in those matters, but the B **ruise on the Wrist** wasn't thin like the mark of handcuffs or a zip tie would be, but more like a human hand gripping it while the boy struggled in vain against it.

Additionally, now that she was looking at Jaune's hand up close, there was something else off about it. On two of his fingers, the index and middle one, there were little spots of a different, lighter color. "Is that some sort of... powder?"

"Did you say something?" Weiss stopped investigating the surrounding room and walked up beside her.

"Yeah, look at this." She pointed at the **Powder Remains** on his hand.

"Hmm. It looks like make up." The singer crouched down as well, bringing her face closer to the body's unmoving hand. "But why would _he_ be wearing make up?"

There was nothing left of the face, at least not in the Recreational Room, so there was no way to check if he did have make up on, but Ruby agreed that it didn't sound like Jaune to care that much about his appearance. He was always wearing the same sweater after all, he was not the kind of person who'd bother with blush and eyeliner.

Since she offered no answer, the ivory girl moved on, specifically by moving her hand into the corpse's front pocket. In a quick moment, her slender fingers came back out carrying a rectangular object from inside.

"Those two won't be able to get inside his room without this. I suggest you bring it to them."

She grabbed the Scroll, her face frozen in bewilderment.

"What? It's just his pocket, it's not like I touched his underwear! Besides, he's dead."

 _If you say so._ The sharpshooter stood back up, straightening her skirt. "Is it okay to leave you alone here?"

Their numbers were dwindling fast, while the area of available school only increased, so having guards posted near the crime scene was a luxury they could no longer afford. It wasn't like she suspected Weiss, but considering how adamant she'd been in previous cases on never leaving one person alone with the evidence, it was a strange request indeed.

"I can cover for you." Blake Belladonna spoke from the doorway to the rec room. Her lips were pursed in a scowl, and her golden eyes featured a somewhat annoyed expression.

"What are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to be on the first floor?" The heiress immediately switched to an accusing tone.

"Nora showed up to tell us about the body, she's down there with Velvet now." She spoke those words, but at the same time walked slowly to the deceased boy lying on the floor, no longer paying much attention.

Ruby felt immensely uncomfortable, caught between the glares of those two again. Leaving them by themselves felt like a recipe for disaster. "Is this... fine? Maybe I should stay."

"No, go. We need to know what's in his room."

"I can take care of things over here."

She was quickly swept away, almost kicked out of the room. Anyone who didn't know those two might have thought they were planning something together, but to her that was beyond absurd. She just hoped nothing would happen.

Reluctantly, Ruby made her way down to the red hall where the rooms were, and knowingly walked up to Jaune Arc's former bedroom. Swiping his Scroll by the electronic lock, she then twisted the doorknob and walked in.

Jaune's room was unremarkable. Nothing set it apart from the other rooms, no posters or furniture that alluded to his interests, nothing that marked his existence as the Ultimate Lucky Student. That was something that the boy himself had probably never considered himself, but to any other Ultimate it would be evident, as it contrasted to their own personalized rooms.

Ruby had been there before, not that she felt any need to share that fact with the others, but to her it felt different, unlike any other room she had been inside. Not because it belonged to Jaune, her friend, but rather because it no longer belonged to him. She hadn't been to Yang's room since she'd been...taken, and neither had she visited the bedrooms of the other victim - so far that duty had always fallen to someone else, yet there was no one else this time. The class was becoming smaller and smaller, and everyone had to pull their own weight, no matter how much it hurt.

Her trained eyes scanned the entire space in just a few seconds, seeking any outstanding objects lying around. The result of said exercise were two strips of paper sitting atop the boy's nightstand. Picking them up to inspect further, she recognized them as **Written Notes** seemingly directed at the resident of the room. The calligraphy was very similar, meaning they probably had been penned by the same person, although it was impossible to tell without a signature.

The first of the notes was an invitation to the recreational room one hour after nighttime, with the bait of a supposed way out to be found there. Ruby bit her lip, trying to suppress the whirlwind of conflicting emotions. That note ruled out an accident blowing out of proportion, it had been a calculated killing.

The second note was also an invitation, but this one... to the second-floor bathroom? Weird, why would someone want a private meeting inside a bathroom? Confused, she slid the slips of paper into her pocket, with the intent to ask about it later.

Afterwards, she hurriedly searched through the room's belongings, which mostly consisted of poorly arranged piles of clothes. There was nothing else to be found, although maybe there was something inside the underwear drawer, but that one she decided to skip. It would seem the crime had been planned and carried out elsewhere entirely. The young sniper took off from the room feeling dejected. Clues really appeared to be in short supply.

With no clear direction, since she'd expected to find one by now, Ruby climbed back up to the third floor. Ren was the only one investigating without a partner, so at least she could check on his progress.

The stoic chef was sitting on one of the stools at the Art Room, wearing a very uncharacteristic frown on his face. He too had spent a considerable amount of time with the luckster, rivaled only by herself, so perhaps he too was struggling with the loss. Every death was hard on the students, but it was undoubtedly harder to lose someone they truly cared for. Maybe that was the lesson to be learned at the dreadful academy, to toss away any connections and feelings of companionship.

"Hey, Ren. Found anything?"

"I have." The man looked at her, before getting up and walking away, into the art storage room in the back.

She sped up to match his pace, catching up to him just by the small furnace. The contraption wasn't lit, but inside it was a mass of **Molten Metal** , with no discernible shape or purpose.

"Oh, Nora is not gonna like that!"

He nodded.

"You think the killer did that?"

"It's possible. Disposing of evidence is always useful when you're trying to get away with murder."

Ruby tried to inspect it up close, discern anymore from it or something of the sort, but there was really nothing else to be said. To anyone untrained in the field of metals, it was nothing more than a shiny solidified blob.

She also tried the rest of the room, but it came up just as empty. There were no signs of forced entry, no out of place materials as far as she could tell. It definitely looked like a dead end, perhaps not even related to the case at all. Conclusions couldn't be reached until they spoke with Nora.

With that thought in mind, the two of them split up after leaving the Art Room. Ren decided to head back to the scene of the crime, and catch up on what they'd found, while she headed downstairs to find the blacksmith.

Just as she was about to reach the stairwell to the second floor, however, she was interrupted by the sound of a loud, irate voice coming from one of the nearby classrooms. Curious, she scooted over to the doors to get a clearer idea of what was going on.

"Cut the crap, Monokuma! Where is it?" The first voice belonged to Blake Belladonna, and much to her surprise, there was a second.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. It's not my job to do the investigation for you." The headmaster wasn't yelling. He didn't seem fazed at all.

"You... Arrrrgh!"

The sniper moved away from the door as she heard someone quickly approaching. Just a few seconds later Blake stormed out of it, stopping dead in her tracks as soon as her eyes met Ruby's.

"Blake, what's going on? Something wrong?"

The Ultimate Terrorist stood still for a moment, as if carefully strategizing her next move. Then, her face, previously mad with rage, returned to a more composed state, and she answered the question.

"Don't worry about it, it's nothing."

"That didn't sound l-" But her retort was cut off by the ever-opportune ringing of the speakers.

 **DING DONG DING DONG**

 **"Time's up. All students are to gather near the red door on the first floor immediately. And make it quick, I'm getting bored here."**

"Dammit!" The faunus girl perked her fuzzy ears up at the sound, and quickly dashed away to the downstairs.

She took off likewise, her nimble legs allowing her to keep up with Blake. They descended, more simultaneously than together, back to the first floor, yet the other woman suddenly took a turn away from the red velvet door that led to the trial grounds.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"I need to check something. I'll be right back." The tone in which those words were delivered was rushed and dismissive, as if she was trying to get rid of the young sharpshooter at all costs. Still, Ruby didn't run after her, but instead walked to the designated door, all the while deeply breathing in and out.

Much like the other trials, she didn't have a lot of clues, yet this time it felt different, like a lot more was riding on her back. If there was nothing else to be found, then she'd have to piece it all together with the little she had and any potential discoveries by her classmates. It was sure to be a challenge unlike any other.

The others arrived soon after. Emerald and Neo were the first ones to arrive, and by the looks on their faces they hadn't found anything, although who truly knew what went inside those heads of theirs? Weiss appeared next, still a little pale from being left to guard the body, but otherwise just as firm as always. Ren, Nora and Velvet came just after her. The chef had likely just found them too, as he was still explaining the metal thing they'd found in the art storage room. And finally, when everyone else was gathered, Blake crossed the corner in a hurry, and just as she joined the group, the door opened ceremoniously.

One by one, the students crossed it to the inside and awaited entry to the elevator, barely looking at one another. The tension was running high, fed by lack of clues they had managed to find. When their numbers reached eight, the metallic gate clanked and opened, inviting them to descend to that least inviting of places.

As the others stepped forward, Ruby motioned to do the same, but was promptly stopped by a hand wrapped around her wrist. Turning back towards the its source, she found herself staring into the cat faunus's guilt-filled eyes.

"Blake?"

"Do you... Do you trust me?" The words took visible effort to come out, an uncharacteristic display of weakness from the terrorist's part.

She forced the best smile she could on her lips. "Of course? Yang trusted you, and so did Jaune. Why wouldn't I?"

"I see..." With no further explanation, Blake Belladonna let her go and walked ahead of her into the elevator, clearly avoiding eye contact. When she was already within, she let out a couple of words just barely whispered, that Ruby narrowly managed to catch. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry about this."

What did that mean? What could she possibly be sorry for? There was no way she was the killer, that much the sniper knew for certain.

But as much as she wished to ponder and find out, duty beckoned, and she took off to catch up with everyone else. There would be answers soon enough, even if one didn't like what they discovered. Such was the way of the courtroom they descended into, the rule of the twisted killing game they were made to participate.

And thus, for the third time, the doors opened at the bottom of the pit, announcing the beginning of another Class Trial.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

 **Students Alive - 8**

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 **I want to take this moment to thank my amazing girlfriend, who is beta-ing these for me. I really couldn't have done it without her support and insightful input. She truly is the best.**

 **And thank you for reading. As always, please drop a review if you enjoyed it, it helps keep me going.**


	14. Chapter 3-4

**Chapter 3.4 - Des-pair**

The elevator whirred and ceased to move, its doors opening before them. The eight students walked inside the too familiar courtroom, but none of them climbed to their assigned stands on the trial circle. They weren't ready, not with the flimsy evidence gathered during the oddly short investigation. There was despair in their faces, the realization that this could be it, the end of the line for the class and their life inside Beacon's Peak Academy.

"Welcome, welcome! What are you all just standing there for? Let's get this show on the road!"

 **CLASS TRIAL IS NOW I-**

"LIKE HELL IT IS!" Ruby heard the cat faunus' distinctive voice coming from behind her, in a very uncharacteristic shout of unfiltered rage.

Before she could turn towards it, however, a fist wrapped itself around her arm, yanking her backwards. She stumbled against the girl's body, and felt the terrorist's other hand veer closer to her chest and neck. When she looked down she found a knife just shy of touching her throat.

"Blake?"

"What's going on?" Their classmates froze, stuck between the desire to defuse that crisis and the knowledge that any sudden movement could end in bloodshed. Blake Belladonna was the Ultimate Terrorist, after all. Killing was well within her area of expertise.

"Ms. Belladonna, what do you think you're doing?" The headmaster made himself heard, although there was no trace of panic in his voice. Unlike everyone else, he seemed to feel very much in control.

"Cut the crap, Monokuma! You either let us finish the investigation or this trial won't be held at all!"

Ruby breathed shallowly, trying her best to keep her skin away from the knife's edge. Her heart pounded incessantly, but she could barely register the conversation around her.

"Didn't we finish the investigation?" Velvet asked, fidgeting her fingers nervously.

"We couldn't find anything else..."

Behind her, the raven-haired girl took to a dumbfounded tone. "Have really none of you noticed one of us is missing?"

"Missing?"

"What are you talking about?"

Nora pointed at each one of them, counting the students out loud. "Ren and I, Velvet, Neo, Weiss, Emerald. That's six, eight with Ruby and Blake."

"That's..."

"Wait." Emerald was the first to realize it. "Where's Sun?"

"Sun? He's right th..." The remaining six Ultimates all came to understand at the same time, their eyes widened in an all-new sensation of horror.

"He can't be dead, we only heard one corpse discovery announcement." Weiss tried to mask her fear behind the usual cold rationality.

Ren disagreed. "The announcement only plays when a body is found by three people. If no one found it, it wouldn't have played."

"Does that mean he's..." The blade close to her skin felt less important, somehow. Had they really lost two people? Not just Jaune, but Sun as well? It was too cruel to consider.

"He is. There's no way Monokuma would let us in here without Sun, the elevator only opens when all students have arrived."

"I cannot confirm nor deny!" The headmaster piped in with a cheerful voice.

"But we checked the whole school!"

"He has to be somewhere."

"We must've missed at least one place. Think, is there any room you didn't look in?"

Velvet shook her head, seemingly less inhibited in that atmosphere of intense focus. "First floor was clear."

"Unless he was in his room."

"Second floor was empty too. Even that little dark room in the library." Emerald reported with an affirmative nod from Neo by her side.

"Ren?"

"I couldn't get inside the physics lab storage on the third floor. That could be it."

"So, we need to check those two places. I suggest we split up, in the interest of time."

"Upupupupupu, isn't that cute?" The stuffed bear interrupted the banter, his inscrutable remark silencing them all simultaneously. "And what makes you think I'll let you do that? We're in the courtroom already."

Ruby swallowed dryly as the blade came even closer to her throat.

"You'll let us, or I kill Ruby." The terrorist's voice didn't waver.

"So what? I'll just punish you, then! We wouldn't even need to hold a trial!" The monochrome villain waved his stubby little arms in the air, getting suddenly very riled up.

"That would be awfully anti-climactic, wouldn't it?" Was there a trace of amusement in her words? "Terrible entertainment. You wouldn't want to do that to the audience, would you?"

"Why you little-" Monokuma slammed his paw against the arm of the throne he was standing in, frustration seeping even through his twisted malformed face. "You think you're so smart, Blake Belladonna, but I'll pay you back for this next time!"

A sound of machinery behind them revealed that the elevator had opened again.

Successful in her gamble, the raven-haired teen released the grip on her schoolmate, letting Ruby breathe freely again. Without speaking any further, she slipped the blade back inside the pocket of her hoodie, and walked into the elevator.

The others followed, swept away by the current of events, and she did the same. The elevator clanked and ascended, as it did after every trial, although this time not to carry them away from a death but towards one.

Weiss was the one who broke the tension, bridging the clear distance between the Ultimate Terrorist and the rest of the class, and demandingly stretching an open hand in her direction. Blake grimaced, but placed the knife in her hand. The heiress then spoke. "We have two rooms to check: Sun's bedroom and the Physics Lab. Who's going where?"

She pondered on the two options. Those were the only two possible final resting places for the faunus thief, the only ones they hadn't investigated yet. That is, of course, unless there was a secret room hidden somewhere in the academy, one that none of the remaining students knew about, probably belonging to the elusive puppet master behind it all.

"I'll take the lab." Blake was the one who made up her mind first. Immediately after, Neo waved her hand to signal she would head there too.

"Then, I'll check his room." Emerald picked her side, and Velvet swiftly moved to her side.

Weiss took their side too. "I guess you can tag along with me."

Leaving only Ren, Nora and Ruby to split up, the blacksmith turned to her. "Ruby?"

"I'll check the physics lab."

Blake shifted her weight uncomfortably. "Are you sure?"

She only nodded.

"Okay, then I don't mind going too. Ren, you'll investigate the room? You're the only boy, after all."

He shrugged almost imperceptibly. "Sure. We don't have his Scroll, but I guess we can ask Monokuma nicely to unlock it."

The doors opened before them, and the two groups parted, one remaining on that floor and the other taking the stairs up. They paced briskly through the halls, the room seemingly so much farther than it had ever been before.

"Blake?" She cleared her throat, and tried to get her thoughts in order. There were a lot of questions pestering her, and not a lot of time.

The girl moved her head to the direction of the call, but avoided her gaze, never ceasing to walk on.

"What did you mean by audience? Is... someone watching us?"

Blake pointed at a camera mounted on the wall they were passing by. "Yes. We're being broadcasted through the surveillance footage. I had my suspicions, but Monokuma just confirmed it, otherwise he would have no reason to take the deal."

Neo turned completely pale, evidently unhappy about the thought of having her actions before the cameras exposed to an audience, although what kind of actions were having her so livid were anyone's guess. Nora, however, wasn't ready to buy it just yet.

"But if the world ended and stuff, how would they even get a TV show going? Stations are probably not working anymore..."

"There are emergency channels set up in case of widespread disaster. He probably hijacked it. That's what _we_ would've done..."

"But why? What's the point?"

"It's a scare tactic, showing what you're capable of to dissuade any opposition. Or maybe some cabal of rich people take pleasure from watching this. I really can't say." It seemed like the terrorist had put some serious thought into it. That level of perceptive suspicion probably came with the job.

They reached the physics lab, and hastily stormed in, making way to the back door. Blake grabbed the handle and twisted it.

"Locked." She confirmed what they all had been expecting. Ren wasn't lying.

"Now what? We need to get in there."

"There has to be another way in and out."

 _"What about the vents? Sun was always checking those out."_

"That's... an idea. Not like we have another one. There was a vent entrance in the rec room, right?"

The four girls left the lab behind, and returned to the crime scene. Jaune's lifeless and headless body was still there, every bit as unsettling as the first time she'd seen it. On the wall, as promised, was a vent opening, just large enough for a person to crawl through.

"Neo, can you go in? You're the smallest." The blacksmith unexpectedly took charge, earning an eye roll from the petite student.

 _"Oh sure, send in the one person who can't scream for help."_ Yet her eyes didn't appear annoyed, but rather amused, and she skilfully climbed through the entrance.

After she vanished into the tight, dark tunnel, they waited. Waited for what seemed like an eternity, their gaze transfixed into the vent, hoping that it would lead them to the missing boy's location. Their fates depended on it.

"Why didn't you trust me?"

"Huh?" Blake quickly turned, caught unaware by the sudden question.

"Before we got on the elevator you asked me if I trusted you. I did. I wish you had trusted me too." Her tone was more sad than it was accusing. It was a feeling she was all too familiar with, always being the young and displaced one, always being protected instead of relied upon, always treated like a child.

Nora kept her lips sealed, fully aware that this was not her business to meddle in.

"I couldn't afford the risk. We all would've died otherwise." The cat faunus avoided her gaze, instead fixing hers on the dead body present with them.

"I would've helped! I don't want everyone to die either." She felt stupid having to say those things aloud, like her basic humanity was in question. But again, that was the nature of the game they were playing wasn't it?

"I'm sorry."

 _Clap Clap_

The sound of palms hitting against each other came from behind them, startling the distracted trio. At its source was Neo, who had just come in through the door.

 _"Door's open."_

"Did you find Sun?"

The mute didn't respond, nor did she make any attempt to scribble or sign back. She merely walked out, expecting them to follow. Something had gotten her at a loss for words, despite how little that seemed to differ from the usual.

In a hurry they jogged to the laboratory once more, and found that the once **Locked Door** was indeed now open. There was a bubbling anxiety building in Ruby's insides, a feeling of gnawing emptiness that craved to know what was inside that small room. She just hoped she was ready for what she'd find. But, as always, she wasn't.

 **DING DONG DING DONG**

 **"A body has been discovered. Get your detectives hats out, because we'll be holding a trial soon!"**

The storage room was a lot redder than she remembered. The floor, the walls, the green cabinets - there was blood everywhere. Splashed, coated, splattered, a gruelling sight that tore right through her stomach. It took all she had, and then some, not to empty its contents right where she stood. The smell didn't help either, a stench of iron and death that felt like it would stick to one's clothes no matter how many times they were washed.

At the center of that painting in gore was the body of a boy, headless just like the previous one. It was placed with the chest down, drenching the underside in deep red.

"Sun..."

She looked away, unable to bear the sigh of that twisted thing, and glanced around to her companions. Neo had her back towards the whole scene - she no doubt had gotten enough of a look when she crawled in to open the door. Nora was sitting down just outside the entrance, her deep breaths clearly audible through the room. Blake was the only one looking straight at it, her fists clenched and her face contorted into a heavy scowl. The dark-haired woman briefly closed her eyes, and her fist flew towards the wall to her side, leaving a slight dent in its surface.

But just like before, like every corpse they'd found so far, there was no time to grieve. They had to swallow the pain and keep the investigation going. Finding strength within her that she didn't know she had, the Ultimate Sharpshooter took a step forward and began working.

The first thing to note, even more than the corpse itself, was obviously the **Gorey Mess** all around them. It was so much blood, more blood than a human could survive losing, but also pieces of flesh and bone in the mix. It looked more like a slaughterhouse than the storage room it had once been. It was hard to even imagine what had transpired inside that room.

The **Second Body** was lying face down, well, if it still had a face that is, in the middle of the pool of blood. His denim shorts were stained with red goo, as was his white vest, and, just like the previous one, his neck ended suddenly with a shapeless landscape of shattered bone and ruptured muscle. The blood had already dried up, same as the rest around it, meaning the death wasn't fresh, although that much they knew already.

After she finished that preliminary analysis, Ruby helped the cat faunus flip the corpse over, failing miserably at keeping her hands untainted in the process. As suspected, the slice across the neck was there too, but turning the boy around allowed them to find something else: numerous **Slashes across the Stomach**. The wounds visible through the open vest weren't too deep, just enough to pierce the skin. There were six knife cuts total, but there was no discernible pattern to them.

The girl let out a shocked gasp when her eyes caught on to Blake was doing, poking her fingers into one of the wounds.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to figure out if they were post mortem." The black-haired girl frowned dissatisfied, and removed her fingers from the corpse. "I can't tell anything with all this blood around."

She thought for a moment on the information gathered, comparing it to the other body they'd found. "Do you think Jaune had this too? We didn't check under his clothes...

"Good point. Hey, Nora?" Blake raised her voice so that the blacksmith could hear from outside the room. It seemed she wasn't handling the scene very well, although in all fairness, Ruby didn't quite understand how she was keeping it together herself.

"Yeah?" A ginger head poked through the door frame, her eyes cautiously avoiding focusing on the massive pool of blood.

"I need you to check something in the Rec Room. Lift up Jaune's shirt and see if he has something on his stomach."

The words were spoken like a command, but Nora took them with relief. At least it was a reason to run away from that horrid storage room. "Ok, be right back."

"Wait, wait!' Ruby remembered something, quickly reaching into the boy's pocket and taking out his Scroll. "Bring this to the other group too, please."

The redhead nodded wordlessly, picked up the device and took off without looking back.

The inspection of the corpse was now done, so they moved on to the area surrounding it. There was a lot out of place in that storage room.

Firstly, the most evidently displaced objects were the **Toppled Bookshelves**. The two large green cabinets were lying on the floor, instead of against the wall where they'd been before. Part of them was on top of the blood pool, dyeing their undersides red, and at that point of impact was some clear damage to the sturdy metallic structure, like they'd been thrown against the floor rather than dropped on it. By the left side of them was a small concentration of **Spilled Powder** , which seemed to further confirm her idea. The powder was a soft salmon color, and its blast area included some of the floor and the side of the leftmost cabinet. A few pieces of glass were visible amongst the spillage, probably from the container that had broken out of its storage, causing that little mess.

Behind the cabinets, on the white untainted wall at the back of the room was a **Vent Entrance** , the one Neo had used to unlock the room from inside. Ruby didn't recall said entrance from her first visit, which could only mean one thing: it had been hidden behind the cabinets. Furthermore, if the room was locked from the inside, it meant the killer had to have used that very same vent to escape.

Near the corner of the room, slightly removed from the crimson mess, sat yet another oddity to her eyes: a **Cart**. Made for transporting heavy objects, it wasn't hard to imagine what it could have been used for. The fact that a **Bloody Tarp** rested on top of it only made the fact more obvious. The tarp was crudely folded, and its once transparent surface was almost as red as the tiles on the ground.

Ruby stepped back, feeling a headache start to form from all that information being drilled into her skull at once. It was hard to piece all of it together instantly, and she was sure some of the assumptions she had just made were wrong.

Speaking of wrong assumptions, she fingered her pocket, suddenly remembering that there should be another autopsy report available on their scrolls. A few button pushes later and there it was: **Monokuma File N°4**.

 _The body was found at 11:20 AM in the Storage Room attached to the Physics Lab._

 _Time of death was 12 AM of the same day._

 _Death was caused by a cut to the throat, which in turn led to bleeding and asphyxia._

 _Additionally_ _, severe trauma was inflicted on the neck and head._

"...That's the exact same file."

"He's toying with us."

 **DING DONG DING DONG**

 **"Time's up. All students are to gather near the red door on the first floor immediately. And make it quick, I'm getting bored here."**

"Already? That wasn't enough!" Ruby shouted at the monitor, even though she knew Monokuma wasn't going to answer.

"We were on borrowed time. Let's hope the others found something worthwile." The Ultimate Terrorist headed out towards the lab. Neo quietly followed along, and, with a sigh of resignation, so did she. They would have to make do with what they already had.

Just before they reached the door to the hallway, however, somebody else bolted through in the opposite direction. Velvet ran past them and into the storage room.

"Oh..." They heard a disgruntled noise, followed by the clicking of her digital camera.

After snapping a couple pictures, the rabbit faunus came out again, not looking too thrilled about what she had just found in there. She walked to the three of them, and pointed at the device hanging from her neck. "Needed pictures so the others could see the body too."

The four students left the physics laboratory and climbed down the stairs back to the ground floor of the academy. They pondered silently the meaning of all those new clues, and their connection with the old ones. One of the remaining eight classmates was the murderer, and whoever it was enjoyed playing games with them. It was probably not going to be a conventional class trial.

When they found the imposing red door, the other four were already waiting. The photographer showed them the photos of the crime scene. Emerald voiced disgust, Ren said nothing, and Weiss stared at the small screen intently, wishing it was enough. Nora had already seen plenty, so she refused to look at it altogether.

Besides that most basic of exchanges, there was little to be said. The door opened, and the students stepped inside, then into the elevator. Although there were eight of them, the same as the last time they'd been to that place, it felt like a lot less. The further their numbers decreased, the harder it was to look at whoever was standing to your side and be sure you could trust them.

One among them had killed. Not just once, but twice. Jaune, the Ultimate Lucky Student, an anxious but friendly and sharp boy that had stood by Ruby's side when she had lost all that she had left. Sun, the Ultimate Pickpocket, a carefree faunus who, despite his talent, was always honest and warm. Their deaths couldn't go unavenged. They had postponed it enough, it was time to face the truth, no matter how hard it was, how much it hurt.

And so, the elevator whirred and stopped, opening the way for the third Class Trial.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

 **Students Alive - 8**


	15. Chapter 3-5

**Chapter 3.5 - Two Despairs For The Price of One**

For the fourth time they walked into the courtroom, taking their places around the increasingly empty circle, and for the fourth time Monokuma appeared in front of them, sitting on his elevated throne.

"Now, if there are no more interruptions planned..."

* * *

 **CLASS TRIAL IS NOW IN SESSION**

 **Monokuma** : "Welcome to the Class Trial for Mister Jaune Arc and Mister Sun Wukong. It's a double!"

 **Monokuma** : "Let's start with an explanation of how the Class Trial works. You will be given time to discuss the evidence you all gathered, and at the end you will have to vote for who the murderer is. If you vote correctly, I'll execute the culprit, but if you're wrong I'll kill everyone except the culprit. So pick carefully, kiddos!"

 **Neo** : _"Please stop repeating that every time."_

 **Monokuma** : "No can do! It's the rules, and you know I'm a stickler for the rules!"

 **Ren** : "Well, moving on."

 **Ruby** : "Should we start with cause of death?" It was where they usually started.

 **Nora** : "Beheading!" The blacksmith seemed to have the spark back inside her now that the bodies were out of sight.

 **Weiss** : "No, their throats were cut. Do you not read the Monokuma Files?"

 **Nora** : "Oh, right, that's a thing we have." The others kept talking as she hurried to read the autopsy report.

 **Velvet** : "So, they didn't die from having their heads...chopped off?"

 **Blake** : "No, the heads weren't cut, they were bashed in. The neck wounds reveal that much."

 **Emerald** : "So, wait, the killer smashed their heads so hard and so many times that in the end there wasn't any head left at all?"

 **Neo** : _"That's pretty extreme."_

 **Ren** : "And personal. It sounds like quite a grudge."

 **Blake** : "I don't know about that."

 **Ren** : "Why not?"

 **Blake** : "Because they were 'killed' beforehand. It takes significantly less effort and rage to do something like that to a body compared to a living person."

 **Weiss** : "You would know about that wouldn't you?"

 **Emerald** : "So besides the murder weapon, we also need to find what was used to crush their heads."

 **Ruby** : "That would be the cabinets, right?"

 **Nora** : "Hmm, that would be heavy enough to do it. Not in one go, though."

 **Ren** : "Nora?"

 **Nora** : "What, I'm a blacksmith! I know a hammer when I see one, even if it's improvised."

 **Blake** : "So, the killer would need to smash it repeatedly against them."

 **Neo** : _"Yikes."_

 **Emerald** : "I'm with Neo, that seems kinda excessive. What's the point?"

 **Weiss** : "That sure is a good question."

 **Ruby** : "I don't know."

 **Ren** : "Then maybe we should come back to this later."

 **Velvet** : "What about the murder weapon itself?"

 **Blake** : "I don't think we know that either."

 **Velvet** : "Huh?"

 **Emerald** : "There's a lot we don't know this time around, isn't there?"

 **Weiss** : "Well, we know it was a knife."

 **Ren** : "And we know of one knife involved in all this."

 **Neo** : _"We do?"_

 **Nora** : "Hey, that's got nothing to with this! It can't!"

 **Ruby** : "You mean Nora's dagger that was in the art storage room?"

 **Ren** : "Or, rather, what was left of it."

 **Blake** : "Explain."

 **Ren** : "There was a piece of molten metal in the art room's furnace. Looked fairly fresh."

 **Nora** : "And I was working on a dagger, which is now missing, yes yes, I didn't do it! Ruby, you believe me, right? I showed you."

 **Ruby** : "Showed me? Oh right, it didn't cut. It was useless."

 **Nora** : "Hey!"

 **Weiss** : "If so, it couldn't have been the murder weapon. Those two were very evidently cut."

 **Neo** : _"But we don't actually know if that piece of metal was the dagger."_

 **Nora** : "If only I could have seen it before we ran out of time..."

Monokuma: "Well, too bad! You can't now!"

 **Blake** : "Anyway, like I said, let's put a pin on that for now."

 **Emerald** : "Then what do you suggest we discuss, then?

 **Blake** : "Time of death."

 **Velvet** : "But don't we know that already?"

 **Neo** : _"It's in the Monokuma File."_

 **Ren** : "Sun was killed at 12 am, and Jaune fifteen minutes later."

 **Emerald** : "Don't see anything wrong with that."

 **Ruby** : "Blake?"

The terrorist frowned, but said nothing.

 **Weiss** : "So much for that attempt to derail the discussion."

 **Nora** : "What were those two even doing up there so late anyway? Were they secretly dating?"

 **Ruby** : "No!" She hadn't intended for her interjection to sound so offended, but somehow that ended up being the case.

 **Ruby** : "I can explain that, actually. I found these in Jaune's room." She reached for the pocket of her hoodie, since those stupid skirts didn't come with pockets of their own for some unfathomable reason, and retrieved the two slips of paper.

 **Neo** : _"What's that?"_

 **Weiss** : "I see you're following in Jaune's footsteps of tampering with evidence."

 **Ruby** : "I wasn't tampering! I just...forgot to show the rest of you."

 **Neo** : "*Not suspicious at all.*"

 **Ren** : "Let's hear what she has to say."

She read the contents of the messages out loud.

 **Blake** : "So, someone summoned him up there."

 **Nora** : "And he fell for it."

 **Velvet** : "Why the bathroom?"

 **Emerald** : "Maybe he was having a hot fling with someone."

 **Weiss** : "Jaune? Oh, please."

 **Ruby** : "I don't know who wrote these, though..."

 **Blake** : "Can I see those?" Ruby offered the messages to her.

 **Blake** : "Yeah, it looks like Sun's handwriting. And yes, you'll just have to take my word for it." She added, directed at Weiss, who was already frowning in anticipation.

 **Nora** : "Jaune and Sun were having a thing? Unexpected, I love it!"

 **Ren** : "Very unlikely."

 **Emerald** : "Well, whatever the case, Sun lured him to the rec room? Then how did Sun end up dead himself?"

 **Monokuma** : "How indeed? Upupupu."

 **Weiss** : "He probably wanted to kill Jaune himself so he could escape and get those millions of lien. He was a thief after all."

 **Ruby** : "But he died first..."

 **Neo** : _"Meaning somebody else was there."_

 **Ren** : "Someone who had to know about the messages beforehand."

 **Velvet** : "Like...Ruby?"

 **Ruby** : "Like who now?"

 **Weiss** : "I don't think we have grounds to suspect her over everyone else right this moment."

 **Ruby** : "Weiss?" Had the heiress just...taken her side?

 **Weiss** : "The killer probably knew about the messages too and simply kept quiet about it. Besides, Ruby could've just as easily fabricated them too."

 **Ruby** ; "Huh...thanks?"

 **Nora** : "Well, aren't you trusting today?"

 **Blake** : "She does raise an interesting point: either of those papers could be forged."

 **Neo** : _"By who?"_

 **Ren** : "The killer, I presume."

 **Velvet** : "But why? What could they have to gain from making fake notes written by Sun?"

 **Ruby** : "Maybe Sun wasn't supposed to die, and it was meant to frame him."

 **Emerald** : "But the Monokuma file says Sun died first, wouldn't that make more sense the other way around?"

 **Ruby** : "Yeah..."

 **Ren** : "Nora?"

The blacksmith had her eyes closed and her hands to her temples, obviously trying very hard to concentrate.

 **Nora** : "There was something I needed to remember to tell you! Aaaaargh, I can't figure out what it was!"

No one said anything, in a mix of confusion and hope that the silence would help her recall.

 **Nora** : "We went to the physics lab, but it was closed." She began retracing her steps.

 **Nora** : "Then Neo crawled through the vent in the rec room and opened it for us."

 **Blake** : "Sun was inside, dead."

 **Nora** : "Yes. It was gross. And then you flipped him around and he had stab wounds in his stomach."

 **Ruby** : "Oh yeah, Blake asked you to check if Jaune had them too under his hoodie. Did he?"

 **Nora** : "No, his abs were crisp and untouched, and then..."

 **Weiss** : "Wait."

 **Nora** : "...what? Oh! That was it, I remembered!"

 **Emerald** : "You can't be serious."

 **Velvet** : "I don't get it."

 **Weiss** : "That was...Sun? And Sun was Jaune?"

 **Neo** : "I'm so lost rn, wtf."

 **Blake** : "The bodies were switched."

 **Ruby** : "Huh? But..."

 **Blake** : "They were dressed to look like each other, to throw us off."

 **Ren** : "You don't sound surprised, did you know about this?"

 **Blake** : "No, I...How did I miss that, Sun even had his tail..."

 **Weiss** : "The killer probably tucked it into his pants to hide it."

 **Emerald** : "This has got to be a joke right? What would this even accomplish? They're still dead, what does it matter who's who?"

 **Ruby** : "The order of the murder, right?"

 **Ren** : "Yes, if the first body we found was actually Sun, it means he died after Jaune, not before."

 **Nora** : "Hey, I helped right?" She beamed a radiant proud smile.

 **Ren** : "Yes, that was very useful."

 **Weiss** : "And it fits much better into the timeline we built. Jaune is called up to the third floor, is killed, and then the killer gets Sun."

 **Velvet** : "But weren't those messages in Sun's handwriting?"

 **Neo** : _"She's right."_

 **Nora** : "Then maybe Sun killed Jaune, and someone else got Sun?"

 **Ren** : "And made it look like the first murder so it would seem like the same person did both."

 **Blake** : "We already settled that the messages could be forged." Patience was running thin in her tone, perhaps the pressure was finally getting to her as well.

 **Nora** : "But if he didn't do it, why would he even be on the third floor so late at night?"

 **Ruby** : "Maybe he really was looking for a way out."

 **Neo** : _"He was probably in the vents."_

 **Blake** : "Exactly. The door to the storage room was locked, remember? The vents were the only way in and out. We're not getting anywhere by discussing this again."

 **Ren** : "There has to be something that can prove his innocence."

 _Something_ … Ruby dug through her memories, she knew the answer was in there somewhere but it kept eluding her. What was there that could prove Sun didn't...

 **Ruby** : "I got it!"

 **Emerald** : "Huh?"

 **Ruby** : "I can prove Sun is innocent."

 **Weiss** : "Do tell."

 **Ruby** : "His wrist! The one we thought was Jaune's, it was bruised. Like he had fought back against someone grabbing him."

 **Velvet** : "Couldn't that have been done by Jaune?"

 **Blake** : "There were no signs of struggle on Jaune's body."

 **Weiss** : "Unless they were on his head."

 **Ruby** : "But that means he wasn't the killer, because he fought with the actual killer."

 **Neo** : "We already knew that."

 **Ren** : "It's not like they could just kill each other."

 **Ruby** : "Oh..."

 **Nora** : "And you made it sound so cool too, what a bummer."

 **Velvet** : "Now what do we do?"

 **Ren** : "That's indeed the question."

 **Blake** : "We should probably go over everything we know, to see what stands out."

 **Weiss** : "We found Sun, who we thought was Jaune, in the Rec Room. He died from having his throat cut a little after midnight, and then his head turned into paste."

 **Velvet** : "Su- I mean, Jaune who looked like Sun was the same..."

 **Blake** : "Throat cut, no head. He was in the Physics Storage, where the cabinets used to crush their skulls were."

 **Nora** : "All this Jaune-Sun and Sun-Jaune is giving me a headache."

 **Ruby** : "In the storage room there was also stuff like a cart and a bloody tarp used to move Sun's body."

 **Emerald** : "That's it? Nothing to discuss about that?"

 **Ruby** : "Do we have to? It looked pretty straight forward."

 **Emerald** : "Alright." She waved dismissively.

 **Neo** : _"+ Melted Knife & Messages."_

 **Weiss** : "Right. Ruby also found some messages in Jaune's room, and Ren found what was left of a knife in the Art Room."

 **Ren** : "It could've been anything, not necessarily a knife."

 **Nora** : "That's it? We got nothing! I don't wanna die here, you guys!"

 **Blake** : "Calm down. Panicking will only help the killer. Are there any clues we didn't mention so far?"

 **Ruby** : "The powder, I guess?"

 **Weiss** : "Hmm, that is true, we haven't really touched on it."

 **Neo** : "*powder?*"

 **Ruby** : "We found some powder on Sun's fingers. It was a little bit lighter than his skin tone."

 **Velvet** : "There was a lot of spilled powder in the lab storage floor, couldn't he have gotten it from there?"

 **Blake** : "Yes, but we should start by assuming he didn't. It's a potential clue. Where else could he have gotten it?"

 **Emerald** : "That's some skewed logic."

 **Nora** : "Maybe it was sugar or flour and he got it from the kitchen. Wait, no, kitchen is closed at night."

 **Ruby** : "Weiss, didn't you say it looked like makeup?"

 **Weiss** : "Yes."

 **Nora** : "Did Sun use makeup?"

Nobody answered. None of them had ever seen him do it, but then again it was believable that he of all people would.

 **Ren** : "I think the better question is why Sun would be putting on makeup right before getting killed."

 **Neo** : _"Booty call."_

 **Velvet** : "We didn't find any messages in his room."

 **Blake** : "We had previously assumed he'd gone up to the third floor to meddle by himself."

 **Emerald** : "But in that case he wouldn't need to look pretty."

 **Ruby** : "So what if it was the killer's?"

 **Nora** : "That or we were right before and he was doing Jaune behind our backs! And behind his back too, I guess... I think that's how it works."

 **Ren** : "Nora..."

 **Nora** : "What, are you jealous? Don't break my heart like this, Ren!"

 **Weiss** : "Ruby, you were saying?"

 **Ruby** : "The makeup could be the killer's. Maybe he got some on him during the struggle?"

 **Emerald** : "That...makes sense, somehow."

 **Neo** : *"Are we going to start comparing skin tones now?"*

 **Nora** : "Well, we can write Emerald off in that case, since she's got dark skin."

 **Emerald** : "Why, thank you."

 **Blake** : "That's not necessarily the case. The person whose skin tone we're comparing to might not be one of us."

 **Velvet** : "Monokuma?"

 **Ruby** : "Not one of... Oh! I got it! You mean Jaune!" Blake nodded.

 **Weiss** : "So the makeup on Sun was to make him look like Jaune?"

 **Neo** : "Weren't they switched anyway"

 **Nora** : "Or maybe the killer was planning on switching places with the victim and pretend they were dead!"

 **Velvet** : "...what?"

 **Ren** : "So ,we don't have a murder weapon we don't have a motive, and we don't know what the powder was for."

 **Blake** : "Oh we do have a murder weapon."

 **Ruby** : "We do?"

 **Emerald** : "But you said..."

 **Blake** : "I lied. Weiss had the gracious courtesy of bringing it in here."

 **Weiss** : "I... You mean this?" The singer produced a knife from within her sleeve.

 **Neo** : _"That was it?"_

 **Blake** : "Yes, that's what the killer used to cut their throats, and afterwards washed. I found it while I was investigating."

Emerald: "Where?"

 **Blake** : "The killer's room."

No one spoke for a while. It took a little, but Ruby finally understood what was happening. It was a bluff. Blake was trying to bait out the blackened.

 **Nora** : "Well? Cut the suspense already, and spit it out!"

 **Blake** : "Ruby, you remember, right? We went to a specific room together."

 _No, we did not..._

 _"Do you trust me?"_ Ruby recalled the prelude to the trial. Maybe this was it, the moment to trust blindly. Blake had a plan, one that needed her help. And so, she decided to take the leap.

 **Ruby** : "Yeah, we went to..."

 **Blake** : "Emerald's."

 **Emerald** : "Excuse me, WHAT?"

 **Ruby** : "And that's where we found the knife... I thought you said it wasn't relevant to the case?" She struggled to make the ruse as believable as possible. Was that really where Blake had gone during her solo outing, or was that a lie too? Was Emerald really the killer?

 **Blake** : "Yeah, sorry about lying. I wanted to avoid jumping to conclusions."

 **Emerald** : "Can you pause for A SECOND, and _EXPLAIN SOME SHIT_?"

 **Weiss** : "Are you sure this is it?" The heiress brandished the knife slightly. "Shouldn't it be, I don't know, _bloody_?"

 **Blake** : "It was on the bathroom sink, probably left there after scrubbing it clean."

 **Emerald** : "How did you even get *INSIDE* MY ROOM?"

 **Neo** : "Sounds like a confession."

 **Ruby** : "Blake cracked the lock."

 **Monokuma** : "SHE DID WHAT?"

 **Blake** : "Cracked, not broken. Calm down, **Monokuma** , I didn't break any rules."

 **Monokuma** : "You sure like stepping on my paws, don't you, Miss Belladonna?"

 **Velvet** : "I thought the locks were tamper proof."

 **Blake** : "Oh, please."

Nobody argued. It was too believable that the Ultimate Terrorist would have something like that in her skillset.

 **Nora** : "So, Emerald did it?"

 **Emerald** : "Bullshit, I did! There was no knife in my room, what are you talking about?"

 **Ren** : "That's just one of the kitchen knives, isn't it?" The question was merely rhetorical, coming from the Chef.

 **Neo** : _"The most accessible"_

 **Emerald** : "So, she just took it from the kitchen! What does this have to do with me?"

 **Blake** : "Ruby backed me up. We found this in your room."

 **Ruby** : "Y...yeah." _How long do we keep this up?_

 **Emerald** : "Then Ruby is lying too!"

 **Ren** : "Why would she lie? If Blake was the killer, she'd die along with us."

 **Nora** : "Yeah! Ruby wouldn't want that!"

 **Ruby** : "...yeah."

 **Weiss** : "We're just pointing fingers, this is going nowhere."

 **Blake** : "But think about it. The pieces fit together."

 **Neo** : _"How"_

 **Emerald** : "Yeah, Blake, how _does it_ fit together?"

 **Blake** : "Let's put together the sequence of events. First, Jaune was lured upstairs by a note with Sun's handwriting. A nice *trick*, wouldn't you say?"

 **Velvet** : "Trick...like magic?"

 **Blake** : "Sort of. Emerald is the Ultimate Magician. She would know a few parlor tricks to be given that title, no?"

 **Emerald** : "Are you seriously implying _I'm_ more likely to know forgery than _**you**_?"

 **Blake** : "Oh, not at all, I could do it. But so could you."

 **Emerald** : "So you _claim_."

 **Ruby** : "Lured upstairs, Jaune went to the rec room, where he was..."

 **Blake** : "Knocked unconscious and dragged back to the Physics Lab."

 **Emerald** : "Did I use a _trick_ for that too?"

 **Blake** : "At night, you wouldn't need to. There's not many people out, particularly not on the upper floors."

 **Ren** : "In there, the killer positioned Jaune so that the cabinets would fall on him, and then killed him."

 **Nora** : "And then crushed him real bad."

 **Blake** : "The vent was hidden behind the cabinet, so Emerald didn't know about it. It was revealed upon slamming the cabinet down, and Sun too, inside it."

 **Weiss** : "So they struggled, leaving the mark on Sun's wrist, but he was overpowered and then also killed."

 **Velvet** : "What was the powder then?"

 **Blake** : "Sun was not supposed to die, as we've concluded. He was accident. My guess is that the powder was indeed makeup, like Weiss said, and it was meant to disguise the killer as the victim."

 **Emerald** : "What the hell are you _talking about now_?"

 **Ruby** : "She was...going to trade places with Jaune?"

 **Blake** : "It's the perfect crime. You can't be labeled as the blackened if you're presumed to be dead."

 **Monokuma** : "Unless you come back in a shocking plot twist!"

 **Blake** : "And, again, this is something the Ultimate Magician would be able to do. A disguise so good it would fool us all."

 **Emerald** : "You cannot possibly be serious about this."

 **Ruby** : "Oh, so thats why there was powder on top of the blood. It was spilled afterwards to cover up."

 **Weiss** : "That plan sure went down the drain."

 **Emerald** : "This is such horseshit. How are any of you buying into this?"

 **Ren** : "So, to improvise, she changed Jaune and Sun's clothes, and moved one of the bodies to hide half of the crime."

 **Emerald** : "Yeah, sure, I did that too." Her sarcastic tone was dripping with frustration.

 **Nora** : "Then destroyed my beautiful dagger as a decoy."

 **Emerald** : "Did I kill Yang and Penny too, while we're at it?!"

 **Blake** : "And hid the real murder weapon in her room, where she thought no one would find it."

 **Emerald** : "That's not even where it was!"

 **Emerald** : "..."

 **Emerald** : "I see. So that was your plan."

 **Blake** : "Yes. Thank you for falling right into it."

 **Velvet** : "She...confessed?"

 **Nora** : "Wait, so the knife was a lie after all?"

 **Ruby** : "...yeah."

 **Blake** : "I noticed one of the kitchen knives was missing, so I grabbed another one, and used it as a prop."

 **Neo** : _"So it was Em"_

 **Ren** : "She did pretty much admit it."

 **Ruby** : "But...why?"

 **Weiss** : "Did you forget? The incentive."

 **Ruby** : "...the money?"

 **Ren** : "The world is in ruins. Why would she need it?"

 **Weiss** : "The argument we had about it. I don't believe so. Emerald was on my side."

 **Blake** : "If she won, she'd be out of here and rich."

 **Velvet** : "So she really did do it?"

 **Emerald** : "You're all ash."

 **Ruby** : "What?"

 **Emerald** : "Ash. Completely worthless. Why should I care about any of you?"

 **Nora** : "And theeere's the creepo."

 **Weiss** : "So you're gonna lay down peacefully?"

 **Emerald** : "Fuck you. Fuck every single one of you, none of you matter. None of you compare to her."

 **Ren** : "Her?"

 **Emerald** : "I needed the money. With it I could help her, pay back everything she gave me."

 **Ruby** : "Who are you talking about?"

 **Emerald** : "My...teacher. Cinder. She lost her eye in an accident, and surgery was so expensive, and I..." She punched the stand in front of her. "I was so close."

 **Weiss** : "And you killed two people for that."

 **Neo** : _"You_ _don't_ _get to give lectures on money."_

 **Emerald** : "So what if I did? She is everything to me, the very reason I'm alive! How can any of you possibly hope to compare?!"

 **Ren** : "I don't think we'll get any more out of her."

 **Velvet** : "Is it...over?"

 **Ren** : "Yes, I think we should just vote now."

 **CLASS TRIAL - END**

* * *

Ruby pressed the button in front of her with just a tinge of hesitation, and saw the others do the same, all but Emerald, who did nothing, standing with her eyes closed in an almost meditative state. She couldn't even begin to pretend to understand what had driven the magician to do something like this. She felt a bit of regret, knowing that there was more to that story, more that she might've understood had she spent more time with the now murderer, but now it was too late. Not that it mattered anyway. There had been more to Sun and Jaune's stories as well, and she had cut them down nonetheless. This was justice.

The giant screen descended from the roof and once again the slot machine spun and then stopped. Emerald Sustrai displayed exuberantly, with the usual horns and confetti. Monokuma sure did enjoy the psychological warfare of it all.

The culprit did not move or react when the claw came for her. Whether her closed eyes were acceptance, anger, or holding back tears, none of them could tell. And she disappeared, just as Coco and Pyrrha had. Then there was another flicker on the screen, and the execution broadcast began.

 _ **The House of a Thousand Tricks**_

 _Emerald Sustrai's Execution_

 _Ultimate Illusionist_

From within the dark screen, a spotlight lit up, revealing Emerald standing still and alone in front of a solid seven foot tall box, whose front lay open like a door.

Then a second spotlight lit up, revealing a Monokuma with a top hat and a bow tie, who bowed for an unseen uproarious crowd. The girl did not flinch, accustomed to the cheering of audiences. As Monokuma waved a short black magic wand in the air, she was pulled backwards into the box, and the door slammed itself shut.

As if pulling it out of nowhere, the monochrome bear unsheathed a long katana, and, with that trademark twisted smile of his, unceremoniously stabbed it into the box. Then he pulled out another, and again, repeating the process five more times.

There was a pause. The smile turned into an unconvincing frown, and he tapped the box with his wand, opening the door.

Inside was Emerald, stretching and contorting as best she could to avoid the blades, succeeding, with a determined fire in her eyes, in all but one, that cut a superficial thin line through her left arm. She tried to move forward, towards the outside, but in just a second, the box closed once more.

Disturbed by the defiance, Monokuma angrily retrieved two katanas at once, and stabbed them into the magician's coffin also. Just like last time, he repeated the stabbing again and again, his fury increasing with each blade inserted.

After reaching fifteen swords stuck at all different levels and angles, he tapped the box once more, and again it opened.

Emerald was even more contorted, and now bleeding more heavily, with three more than superficial cuts across her right leg and arm, and blood flowing out of where two of her right fingers had once been. But she was still alive, much to the executioner's frustration.

The door closed one last time, and now Monokuma reached under the stage and, rather than a sword, pulled out a massive handsaw, proceeding to cut the box in two with terrifying speed. After the deed had been done, he kicked the top half off.

And, from the bottom half of that bladed coffin, Emerald Sustrai leapt up from crouching down, and ran. Her clothes were bloodied, and the wounds starting to mount, but she was not ready to give up. And so she ran, spotlight following her path as she tried to escape the mastermind's grim fate for her. But running was never an option.

The floor caved in from underneath her feet, revealing a tarp stretched out over a long black pit.

Emerald fell.

Ten feet, twenty, forty, sixty. She fell into this seemingly bottomless hole, followed by the lone stage light. And at the end of it was a massive top hat, where her still living body landed limply.

In the silence that followed, Monokuma caught up, walking into the hat's spotlight, and waved its magician's wand in front of it. The hat began stirring and moving, as if a struggle was happening within it, and the quiet was broken by low growling.

And then it stopped, and the academy's mascot smiled twistedly again. Dropping the wand, he climbed to the top of the hat, and reached into it, pulling out Emerald's severed head, frozen in an expression of panic. And he laughed.

And the screen turned off.

No one spoke. Not even Monokuma, who opted to only survey their despairing faces with delight.

One by one, the students started leaving, the shock still reverberating all through their heads. Neo was the first, followed by Ren and Nora, who looked utterly nauseated. Velvet took off next, her rabbit ears hanging low, and Weiss not long after, still somehow maintaining a shred of composure none of the others had.

Ruby found herself alone in the room with Blake, and the still ecstatic bear. The raven-haired faunus looked grim, regretful, and let out a deep sigh, before returning to her stoic mask.

"Illusionist? huh..."

"What?" She knew those words hadn't been directed at her, or anyone for that matter, but she was still curious.

"Oh." Only then did the terrorist seem to notice she was not alone. "Nothing... Hey, Ruby? Thank you."

"I told you to trust me. It goes both ways." She attempted her best smile, coming off more as a half-grimace.

"You were right. We wouldn't have made it without you." And without expecting an answer, Blake walked off into the exit.

"You're not going back, Miss Rose?"

"Monokuma."

"When you say my name like that it makes it sound like you hate me!"

"That's because-" She stopped mid sentence. There was no point. He was trying to get a rise out of her. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you doing this? What do you have to gain from our pain?"

"Why do I need a reason? Can't I just do it for the fun of it?"

Ruby slumped her shoulders. This too was pointless. She turned away, and walked to the elevator.

"It's not like I'm the only one enjoying it."

The doors closed andand the machine began ascending before she could ask any further. It probably didn't matter anyway.

She found herself in her room, completely alone. Just a couple of days after losing her sister, she had now also lost what felt like her only friend. She didn't even have the energy to cry.

She just collapsed onto the bed, and silently prayed the last few weeks had been nothing but a dream or a virtual simulation.

* * *

 **CHAPTER 3 - END**

 **Students Alive - 7**


End file.
